Thoughts on Civil War and Trump Conviction

Caellie Spaeny and Kirsten Dunst in
Civil War (A24)

I was going to write something about Alex Garland's Civil War film which we saw last weekend at Regal Kaufman-Astoria, but then Trump's 34-count guilty conviction erupted all over the news. The two events seem connected. Civil War imagines a dystopian near-future of America at war with itself and the jury verdict demonstrates our actual internal cold cultural-political war. 

Civil War is an effective action thriller with thematic overtones of the role of photojournalism, but wants to have it both ways politically so as not to offend either side of the spectrum and thus alienate a potential audience. We're in some future time where 31 states have seceded. It's never explained why. Most of the action follows a group of journalists driving to Washington DC from NYC to interview the beleaguered President (Parks and Recreations' Nick Offerman) before he is captured by the insurrectionist Western Forces of Texas and California. Director-screenwriter Garland deliberately confuses us as to who is on which side and whom we should sympathize with. The traveling reporters and photogs encounter brutal racists and incredible violence without identifying whether the combatants are with or against the authorities. The subtext of this part of the film focuses on the status of the neutrality of the journalists. They are just there to record the facts and images and let their public decide. The main character Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and her colleague reporter (Wagner Moura) work for Reuters and  make no statements of allegiance to either side.

Garland offers breadcrumbs of clues as to the underlying issues of his imagined conflict. Lee evidently got her start snapping the great Antifa massacre. Whether Antifa were the perpetrators or victims of said massacre is left unsaid. The mysterious president is supposed to be a bad man. Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson of Fences), who writes for "what's left of the New York Times," compares him to Mussolini, Clesceau and other dictators. The prez is in his third term. So he could be like Trump or like Biden, depending on your point of view. 

(SPOILER ALTER) The most shocking scene depicts the reporters confronting armed soldiers hiding bodies and questioning the loyalties of the journalists. They coldbloodedly kill two Asian reporters and we're meant to find these guys repulsive. But then we get to DC and we're meant to cheer on the insurrectionists as they storm the capitol, shoot stuffy, annoying White House staff members and finally capture and kill the prez. So we are supposed to be shocked by the racist soldiers, but also root for the anti-government troops.

Convicted felon Trump

In our parallel, real world, the country is divided about Trump's guilty verdict. MAGA people see his hush-money cover-up scheme as no big deal. So what if he did have sex with Stormy Daniels and tried to conceal it from the voters?, they might argue. Everybody does it. Biden is just as bad if not worse in their minds for saying hello to his son's business associates during a conference call. Whereas, sane objective people see that Trump committed a crime and was found guilty.

Ironically, of Trump's four indictments, this case was initially seen as the weakest, but because it's a state matter it proceeded with less interference than the others.

What's really scary is that Trump has shattered faith in our judicial system among his followers. Members of Congress, the Supreme Court (Alito and Thomas), the right-wing media, have all bowed to his twisted view of the world.

What's frightening is that this guilty verdict won't matter to many voters and we could get a felon in the White House.