67. A Private War; movie review

A PRIVATE WAR
Cert 15
110 mins
BBFC advice: Contains bloody injury detail, strong language

Over the years, I know a couple of pals who have ventured into war zones in the name of journalism and one even suffered the shattering experience of a cameraman colleague being killed.
I admire their tenacity in following a story when they may be in peril. I don't know whether I would have had the nerve.
However, they are very occasional reporters from conflicts unlike the pack of war zone reporters for whom filing under fire has become a way of life... and death.
Marie Colvin was such a reporter - rightly acclaimed for her brilliant and very personal reporting from frontlines across the globe over three decades.
Rosamund Pike plays Colvin in this biopic, dedicated to the American journalist who worked for the Sunday Times for many years.
It chronicles her most dangerous assignments, including the one in which she lost her eye, delves into her personal relationships which always played second fiddle to her war reporting and her descent into alcoholism.
Since her success in Gone Girl, Pike has become one of the UK's most active movie actresses, taking on a huge variety of roles.
Latterly, they have tended to be gritty but not quite so obviously big box office.
Matthew Heineman's A Private War continues this theme. I read up on Colvin after watching the movie and Pike seems to have captured her spirit, winning plaudits from those closest, including her cameraman, Paul Conroy who is played by Jamie Dornan.
Colvin is painted as a journalist who parties hard and works even harder.
She seeks to go further than other reporters in telling the stories of the voiceless - particularly those caught up in war.
But the fall-out is extreme. She cannot shrug off what she has seen and her relationships with people in normal life become more and more difficult as a result.
This is very much Pike's film. I cannot recall a scene in which she isn't the focus and she does a remarkable job.
Dornan is low-key but effective as one of the few she respects and Tom Hollander players her foreign editor boss with whom she becomes more and more fractious.
Every year, scores of journalists die while on a quest for the truth. Marie Colvin was one but A Private War is not just a eulogy - it is a reflection of a very hard job and the toll it takes.

Reasons to watch: Faithfully chronicled true story
Reasons to avoid: Upsetting scenes

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: Yes - and it is particularly gratuitous
Overall rating: 8/10

Did you know? 53 reporters were killed during the course of their work in 2018, according to a report by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists.

The final word. Paul Conroy: "Rosamund inherited Marie's body and spirit, catching her ever so human traits of frailty and self-doubt, her ruthless determination to bear witness and act as a conduit for the voiceless, to a world often unprepared to listen."

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