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How accurate is 2024 film Civil War in its depiction of photojournalists? Pulitzer Prize winner Carolyn Cole breaks it down
- LA Times photographer Carolyn Cole considers what 2024 film Civil War gets right and wrong in journalists operating in perilous conditions
- She points out scenes where it felt particularly true to life, how realistic the dangers they face are, and why ‘in the end, it is about risk-taking’
Reading Time:6 minutes
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After favourable reviews and a strong opening weekend at the box office, Alex Garland’s provocative Civil War is already poised to become one of the most talked-about films of 2024.
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The filmmaker’s graphic, often terrifying, depiction of a war-torn America and a government in crisis has sparked plenty of debate among audiences and critics.
And while the story’s “what-if” premise is pure fiction, Civil War is nonetheless flavoured by a gritty realism central to its power.
The principal focus of Civil War is war-weary photographer Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and her writer colleague Joel (Wagner Moura), who pick up an aspiring young photographer named Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) and a veteran journalist named Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) as they set off on a dangerous journey to the White House, where the US president is besieged by encroaching rebel forces.
Carolyn Cole, who has covered national and international news for the Los Angeles Times since 1994, has seen Civil War and agreed to answer questions about what the film gets right – and wrong – in its depiction of journalists operating in perilous conditions.
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Cole’s work on the effects of civil war in Liberia, West Africa, won the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for feature photography. She is also a two-time winner of the Robert Capa Gold Medal for war photography from the Overseas Press Club of America.
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