The War Zone
Directed by Tim Roth.
Voted Best New British Film at 1999 Edinburgh Film Festival
The War Zone has a stunningly beautiful but at the same time gritty look. The landscape is wet and bare, reflecting the relationships in the central family. Heavily pregnant Mum (Tilda Swinton) and Dad (Ray Winstone) have just moved to a cottage in the country ‘to make a fresh start’ with their two children Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) and Jessie (Lara Belmont). After a dramatic car accident, out of which they quite amazingly appear virtually unharmed, a baby girl is born.
On the surface the family is a happy and close one, with just the usual worries of settling into a new place. But underneath there is an incestuous relationship between father and daughter, about to be discovered by Tom.
All the actors have a strong presence on the screen. Tilda Swinton in her best role since Orlando and newcomer Lara Belmont carry the weight these female performances need to make the film work. Unfortunately, it still falls slightly short of its mark because of its awkward set-up. If this relationship has been going on for years — why has nobody noticed until now?
Many scenes are completely without dialogue and they actually come across as more true than some of the ones where the family tries to communicate with stilted words.
One thing that I did find fascinating about The War Zone was director Tim Roth’s way of using extended shots. The camera lingers, it doesn’t go away. Even at the most painful moments it stays until the end — and beyond. That technique could certainly be tedious if used in another kind of film but with material like The War Zone it comes across as appropriate, making the scenes intimately real.
Although flawed, The War Zone is a beautiful and important film. It doesn’t moralise. Instead the audience is invited to draw its own conclusions — about love and guilt, sex and shame.
Sol
