A Private War Movie Review

A Private War is director Matthew Heineman’s first feature length film that is not a documentary. As primarily a documentary filmmaker, it makes sense that he would pick this topic. Journalist Marie Colvin was a legend. If you haven’t heard of her at all (where have you been?) then you should check out this article from Vanity Fair for a glimpse of her life. If you’re still reading I’m assuming you either already know about Colvin or you read the VF article and are back.

Heineman attempts to chronicle Colvin’s life in A Private War. Since I really respect Colvin as a journalist, I really wanted this to be a stellar movie. But it let me down a little. We get to see Colvin (Rosamund Pike) in Sri Lanka where she sustains the injury that left her wearing an eye patch. Then we bounce around from country to country as she covers Libya, Syria, etc. There isn’t really a solid narrative. We see the horrors Colvin witnessed and how they messed her up. She’s portrayed as an alcoholic and she is rarely seen without a cigarette in hand. She flits back and forth between London parties, war torn countries, and different lovers. All of this just felt like it scratched the surface of her life. I didn’t get a good sense of who Colvin really was, other than she was a journalist who felt compelled to tell the stories of those affected by war.

Despite the lackluster plot, Rosamund Pike was sensational. If the movie as a whole had been slightly better I think she would’ve gotten more buzz. She sounded exactly like Colvin and completely transformed into the gritty journalist. The best part of the movie was watching Pike absolutely crush this role. But the surrounding story wasn’t nearly as captivating as Colvin’s real life was.

Film or Movie: Movie
You’ll like this movie if:
1. You like journalism
2. You like war movies
3. You want to see Pike absolutely nail a performance