In trying to hedge its politics, 'Civil War' betrays its characters -- and the audience

And why is no one talking about it?

Very quickly, Garland's refusal to explain comes to seem less an artistic choice than an ill-considered dodge, like Nikki Haley initially refusing to identify slavery as the cause of the actual Civil War. Particularly given how much of the film's imagery evokes recent events, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

Strains of fascism, on the right and on the left, existed in America long before the rise of MAGA Nation. But in the wake of Jan. 6, and with Trump's violent rhetoric once again on full display as he campaigns to return to the White House, it's impossible not to see "Civil War" as a cinematic vision of what could happen should Trump succeed.

In which case it seems worth noting that the defenders of Trump's authoritarian tendencies have an clear set of ideologies. (The film's most horrifying scene, an echo of the celebration of "real Americans" so popular with right-wing Republicans, is presented as an independent act, possibly disconnected from what's been happening in the halls of power or on the front lines. In real life, the "us vs. them" hostility of white supremacy has an identifiable political home.)

Forcing the very real political divisions that plague this nation into vague subtext doesn't even serve the purported pro-journalism nature of "Civil War."

By attempting to keep his film "above" the current political fray, Garland comes close to the both sides-ism that too many journalists are expected (or have chosen) to embrace in an attempt to prove lack of bias. But the arbitrary demand for "balance" should never be confused with objectivity, which requires, among many qualities, an understanding that not all things are equal in importance, relevance or, if it comes to that, blame.

The fact that we are, in many ways, still fighting the actual Civil War, including recent conflicts over how slavery, the Confederacy and war itself should be portrayed in classrooms, history books and civic life, proves how important it is to understand how events, ideologies and people sparked that cataclysm — or any cataclysm. By suggesting instead that anything (or nothing) could lead to the collapse of a nation, the destruction of its most iconic landmarks and the removal of the president by force, "Civil War" does an injustice to its audience, and to the work of the very people it hopes to honor.

Ignorance is not the same as objectivity either.

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