Posted: 11/29/2011

5 Days of War

(2011)

by Joe Sanders

Available on Blu-ray and DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment November 29

5 Days of War addresses the brief conflict in 2008 between the Country of Georgia and Russia. Russian President Putin, calling the break-up of the Soviet Union the greatest geopolitical travesty of the 20th century attacked the Sovereign Georgian people, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of Georgians left homeless as a result of their villages being completely destroyed or occupied by Russian forces. Many of these villages remain occupied by the Russians today while their former residents still live in Refugee camps.

If you’ve never heard of this war, that’s because the American media didn’t care about it. They were too busy covering the Beijing Olympics. The film though deals with war correspondents documenting the war and trying desperately to hook the interests of the media outlets back home. They videotape and report on terrible bombing runs and cold blooded executions, but can’t get anyone back in the states to take an interest. The film centers on Thomas Anders (Rupert Friend; The Young Victoria), a reporter in Georgia covering the conflict alongside his cameraman, Sebastian (Richard Coyle; Coupling, Prince of Persia). After a couple of attempts to get the word out about the war, Thomas and Sebastian meet up with Tatia (Emmanuelle Chriqui; Entourage), who has been separated from her family after her village was bombed. The men agree to help Tatia in the hopes that a human interest angle is all they need to get their story out.

The film is reminiscent of last year’s The Bang Bang Club starring Ryan Phillipe, about photojournalists documenting the violent fall of the Apartheid government in South Africa. The key difference being that those photojournalists took some of the most iconic war pictures of the century and it earned them a lot of praise and prestige back in the U.S. Not sure if these journalists’ work being unappreciated lowers the stakes or makes the whole scenario even more appalling, but these stories about normal unarmed people being thrown into the middle of these conflicts is inherently interesting to watch.

The cast is fairly standard to watch; nothing really special. Rupert Friend does a fine job carrying the movie, and Emmanuelle Chriqui gives an adequately emotional performance, but the real virtue of this film lies in a couple of its smaller supporting roles. Heather Graham’s brief performance deserves recognition because for the few minutes she’s on screen, she develops a really interesting character and really serves to draw the audience in right away to the film’s overall emotional significance.

Best actor definitely goes to Richard Coyle though. It’s frustrating to see Richard Coyle’s film work over the past several years. From The Libertine to Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time to a bunch of stuff no one’s ever heard about, Coyle has not had the best track record. He got his break on a british sitcom called Coupling created by the ingenious Steven Moffat (Doctor Who), and Coyle was the character to watch on that show; the reason people tuned in week to week. We’ve seen great things from Richard Coyle and then seen him take on project after project where his talents simply were not being utilized at all. Kind of like an older, britisher Shia LaBeouf. So it was a very pleasant surprise to see Richard Coyle in 5 Days of War as a more relaxed, well-rounded, fun character. Not to say Sebastian is the same type of character as Coyle played on Coupling, but through Sebastian’s ability to juxtapose the serious with the comical, he is clearly an ideal Coyle character.

It’s a war movie, with explosions, and blood, and other visual emphases, so this might be worth picking up on Blu-ray rather than DVD. Special features include a commentary by Director Renny Harlin, and some deleted scenes.

Joe Sanders is a playwright and college instructor in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He has a Master’s degree in playwriting and a Bachelor’s degree in creative writing from Western Michigan University, where he currently teaches Thought and Writing.

Got a problem? E-mail us at filmmonthly@gmail.com