Rent A Private War (2018)

More films about real-life amazing women desperately needed. So much potential for powerful films - A Private War review by AC

Underrated, perhaps the content a tad too important? A true, true story. Rosamund Pike utterly convincing as insanely courageous war correspondent, Marie Colvin, urged on by her self-serving boss to risk her liife to tell the appalling truth about man-made war so often glorified in macho Hollywood tripe. And upon which the UK economy depends, subsidised by the British taxpayer, flogging arms to whichever despotic regime will pay the price, . And who suffers most?  surprise, surprise, women and children.

Great acting from her photographer sidekick too.

So many exceptional women's stories remain untold, why? 

Very worthy but boring - A Private War review by CP Customer

The acting is absolutely fine in this movie. It was just the story that dragged a lot. I ejected the disk after about half an hour. Although the subject is very low worthy that's all I can say in the film's favour.

Overlong, Perhaps Overly-Uncritical Biopic of a US Female War Journalist Marie Colvin - A Private War review by PV

First, the negatives: this is way too long, with so much lingering on moments of struggling with PTSD and personal relationships - it could have been made to fit into 90 minutes, I am sure, and lays on the emotions rather thick to garner sympathy. This could be because the director has only directed documentaries before.

Second, the positives: it's better than the movie THE NEGOTIATOR which starred Rosamund Pike too, at least, and tells a tragic tale well.

One wonders how fair and unbiased this is, however - I doubt the writer or backers blame anyone but Assad for the situation in Syria; however, it's well known that Homs was full of ISIS supporters. So it's strange, as it was on news reports in the UK, to have the West siding with ISIS Islamists who are also responsible for terror attacks in Britain, France, Germany etc.

It's all aimed squarely at a US audience - why there's some Brit-blaming from the main character in Sri Lanka. For the record, the British Empire did not create ethnic/religious/caste/tribal tensions in Ceylon or India or Asia - they were there anyway! The British in fact tried to lessen them via a man-made law which applied equally to all and tried to get rid of the caste system. but it lingers on.

Also worth mentioning that there are a great many war journalists, mostly male, many of whom get killed and injured yet don't get movies made about them. I suppose they all have to balance being bold and/or reckless with safety concerns too, and maybe the risks excite these types of people, even if they get attacked. Maybe, like a lot of risk-taking mountaineers, many of them suffer depression if not taking such risks. Rather them than me anyway.

I'm sure a lot more films can be made about Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and other warzones. This is a useful addition to the genre. 3 stars.

A very good film. - A Private War review by AC

A true story. Very well done. Rosamund Pike as the late journalist Marie Colvin. What she does is put in her all into this character and it's acting master class. To play someone that lived so recently, with alot of people that still remember her in her world, and be convincing is amazing.

Marie Colvin had her demons, but also a drive to report tradegies of the world. This is shown in the film. Very good.

Another mediocre film elevated by an incredible, powerhouse performance from Rosamund Pike - A Private War review by TB

For the second time recently, I have watched a film with a protagonist called Marie which, without Rosamund Pike, would have totally failed. As with Radioactive (based on the true story of Marie Curie,) A Private War looks at the life of Marie Colvin, the incredible and fearless journalist who went to the worst war zones and hell holes you could imagine to insure that the atrocities being committed were reported on and subject to the full scrutiny of the world. Colvin went to pretty much every conflict zone imaginable, resulting in the loss of her eye during the Sri Lankan civil war when she was deliberately targeted. It was this dogged determination to report that sadly cost her her life in 2012 whilst covering the siege of Homs in Syria. 

Pike is absolutely sensational. She is able to show in heartbreaking detail how, despite having been in more war zones than most soldiers and suffering PTSD on a scale probably unheard of, she could not stop herself and her commitment to the truth and speaking up for the most vulnerable and attacked in the world. Her PTSD was so bad she was hospitalised and also developed addictions to drink and drugs. But her spirit remains unbroken, even in the final days of her life. Once the film finishes, you do feel both amazed and also broken at what she saw and went through. 

Unfortunately, this powerhouse performance overshadows everything else, despite the best efforts of the cast, although it was a pleasure to be around them. Jamie Dornan, showing that when he isn’t in the 50 Shades universe he can be a very good actor, plays Paul Conroy, the Irish photographer who worked extensively with Colvin and was with her when she was killed, incredibly managing to survive the military bombardment of where they were sheltering. Tom Hollander is also good as Marie’s editor, who is shown to be completely torn between worry for his best reporter and also the commercial obligation he has, as well as the fact that she is his best journalist. 

Sadly, the script simply cannot properly do justice to the people or events that it is depicting. We are shown many snapshots of Colvin’s life, but none of it fits together well. It is like a series of points in time that are stitched together by certain events, but at the same time, none of it flows particularly well. This would have probably been better as a TV series, allowing much more time to flesh out the events and also allow more opportunity for us to really get to understand Colvin and what made her who she was. I did finish watching the film with a real sense of wasted potential, despite my enjoyment of it and Pike’s performance. 

Somewhere in here there is a great movie, but poor narrative choices unfortunately make this much less than it could have been. But absolutely see it for Pike.