5 Days of War
An American journalist and his cameraman are caught in the combat zone during the first Russian airstrikes against Georgia. Rescuing Tatia, a young Georgian schoolteacher separated from her family during the attack, the two reporters agree to help reunite her with her family in exchange for serving as their interpreter. As the three attempt to escape to safety, they witness--and document--the devastation from the full-scale crossfire and cold-blooded murder of innocent civilians.
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- Cast：
- Rupert Friend , Val Kilmer , Andy García , Dean Cain , Emmanuelle Chriqui , Heather Graham , Mikko Nousiainen
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Reviews
Must See Movie...
Don't Believe the Hype
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.
Renny Harlin used to be the sort of director who managed to turn sub-bar screenplays into entertaining and quite thrilling films. '5 Days of War' is not one of them. I don't care much about how much propaganda one movie contains (Sergei Eisenstein? Anyone?) as the real truth usally lies beneath somewhere. My biggest probleem with that movie was that it lacked any sort of direction. The scenes were badly bound together, the story was all over the place. THe characters lacked any depth, and the actors mostly just walked through the scenes (especially Val Kilmer who is usually very capable actor). Saw that film first time when it was released, second time was couple of weeks ago, and I couldn't even finish it. So, my question is - did they even try? I mean this conflict surely deserves much better depiction on the screen than it got from '5 Days of War'.
Just like War there are two sides to it all. This is a one sided, many call it Propaganda, Film that has two thing going on. The first is the Myopic Political view told only from one side. The other is an excellent Action War Movie that is about Journalists embedded deep in the Horror.The Film is excellent, engaging, exciting and has its Heart in the right place. It is emotional and gripping, as it should be. The feel is that you are there dodging incoming and fending off Sadistic Mercenaries. It all works as a Study of the brutality inflicted upon and Personal suffering of the Refugees and Civilians. Engrossing and Realistic this is an Anti-War Movie for sure because the Politics and Machinations of the whole thing are left in the periphery and are barely touched upon and when it does it is a narrow View. Overall, its basic underlying Theme of "War is Hell" is amply displayed and it explodes off the Screen.However, there is one thing that cannot be Overlooked and must be condemned. The before End Credits of Real Victims in teary despair was definitely not needed because the Movie was already successful in defining their Grief. So this really is a Shame because it seems like exploitation. Their Pain and Suffering was already in the Viewer's Mind and although sincere, it just doesn't belong in this Drama and would be more suited for a Documentary.
This contains spoilers.A centerpiece of 5 DAYS OF WAR is that authentic video footage of a clear and brutal war crime is powerful evidence able to make change -- in and of itself.In 5 DAYS OF WAR, the conflict involves some Georgians and the Russians with roots in old Soviet politics. Whatever blatant and harsh oppression is at the center of the complaint, it is distant to American film audiences. Other people living in far away lands may, or may not, have a tradition to respect the rules of war.This is all to say that 5 DAYS OF WAR is deeply flawed because it is not grounded in reality. In real life, American film audiences are more closely familiar with American traditions. George Washington commanding a very humanitarian "rules of war" code placing virtue with the Americans, in sharp contrast with the poor ethics of the British military. The good guys (we Americans) act good. We act good. We are good. It gave Americans deep pride to be American.The flaw in 5 DAYS OF WAR is most obvious today as we all know of the Bradley Manning "brutal bloodlust video" released to the media and general public showing U.S. military gleeful war crimes on civilian targets. Authentic video footage that changed... nothing. It changed nothing because in the real world of today, the side that tortures and murders with robot drones is good, and the side that uses bare hands to farm green beans and onions is bad. Today, in the real world, we all share the ideas our leaders tell us.Life is easier now the happily cowed media and we regular people because none us ever need to think for ourselves; we have a leader who will do all of the thinking for us. This is real life. 5 DAYS OF WAR has too much fantasy.
I think overall it was a good movie. Sure there may have been little too much propaganda but as more I watched the movie the more I started to thought about how disgusting can be one country towards others. As I remember this right one of the heads of Russia did said that the war was planned 2 years before it took place. So it is obvious that there where nothing to do with the people on South-Ossetia or Abkhazia. It was just an excuse. Also it is funny to hear about how Russian television has brainwashed the Russians, how Georgians started the war and so on. This brainwash has lasted 70 years or more. It is like North-Korea but a lighter version.
