The War Zone

It is a very very awful story, and yet it's incredibly well made, and very strongly perform by all the cast especially Lara Belmont, The War Zone is just like the real war, it's sad, tragic, disturbing, and depressing, the movie is just the family version of it.

"The War Zone,"-Tim Roth revisits emotional rawness, and makes one of the most impressive actor-to-filmmaker transitions. A searing drama about incest, "The War Zone" is a brave act by Roth. The subject is noncommercial, and the way Roth confronts it angrily, without sentiment or exploitation is guaranteed to upset those members of his audience who like their drama filtered and safe. They live in a comfortable cottage, warm and sheltered, life revolving around the big kitchen table. Mum (Tilda Swinton) is very pregnant. Dad (Ray Winstone) is cheery, extroverted-- good guy. Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) is a 15-year-old, silent and sad because he misses his friends in London. Jessie (Lara Belmont) is 18 years old, ripe with beauty. This looks like a cheerful story. Casual nudity when bathing and horseplay begin to give way to something far more sinister lying just below surface. The son begins to suspect of incest, piecing together evidence, but unsure of how to address the abuse. Roth's direction is moody and austere--it emphasizes the simple details of domestic life and the ways in which families unwittingly collude to avoid the truth. He favors scenes that appear to be about nothing: Mum talking on the phone in the background, while in the foreground Dad bounces the new baby. He lingers on these uneventful moments as if to imply that such genial routine can provide a smoke screen. One of the lingering questions is whether Swinton's character knows what's going on. The ensemble acting is excellent throughout--but perhaps the most impressive instance is a raw exchange between the two non-professionals, Freddie Cunliffe and Lara Belmont. As she implores him to physically abuse her by placing a cigarette lighter to her bare breast. her desire to manifest her psychic scars, and her mistaken belief in her complicity are unbearably heartbreaking. Belmont's performance is stunning and painful. Cunliffe does credit to Tom by underplaying his role, and reacting that builds to a dramatic breaking point. It's here that the film stumbles slightly, with a more predictable act of violence that doesn't deliver the feeling of authenticity we knew in earlier scenes. It's a movie moment, but it passes. The final shot of the film finds Roth regaining his poise, with a stark framing of the siblings huddled together alone in the bunker. It's framed like a painting, and held long enough that the pain and damage done to these children is apparent to every viewer in the audience. When the credits begin to roll, you are almost powerless to move. A father who loves his children, and wants the best for them but can't stop himself from destroying what he cherishes most.