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Here’s my review of the 1999 film, The War Zone.
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Short filmTranscript
00:12hey guys welcome back to another cult movie review with me beau on the film scene investigation
00:20channel thank you so much for checking out this review in today's video i'm going to be taking a
00:27look at the 1999 drama the war zone this was a movie that i recently stumbled upon and yet given
00:38the talent that was involved i am genuinely surprised that i'd never come across this movie
00:45before the film never received a wide theatrical release but then again that's hardly surprising
00:52given the subject matter it was hardly family friendly material before we get into this review
01:00if you haven't already guys please do consider subscribing to the channel all the support
01:04is greatly appreciated so the war zone from 1999 was directed by the actor tim roth and was based
01:15on the novel by alexandra stewart i thought it was intriguing to see tim roth behind the camera in
01:24the director's chair since he's you know primarily known as an actor if any of you guys know about you
01:30know tim roth and his filmography he has worked with some amazing directors in his career so suddenly
01:40seeing him as a director you know that was intriguing and i was definitely interested to see what he could
01:47deliver when it comes to the actors in the film it had a great cast that included ray winston tilda
01:54swinton
01:55and a young colin farrell who was making his feature film debut narrative wise the war zone followed a family
02:04of five who had just left their busy lifestyles in london for a more quiet existence in rural devon
02:12the mum played by tilda swinton had just given birth to a newborn and given the recent move there was
02:20a lot
02:20going on in a short amount of time the son tom who was played by actor freddie cunliffe was this
02:28awkward
02:29kid who had a hard time dealing with the recent move he suddenly had no friends and yeah i mean
02:37all
02:38the sudden changes seemed to really affect him the kid was clearly struggling adapting to his new
02:45surroundings but you know what could he do it's not like he added any choice in the matter things turned
02:53very ugly when tom came back from a shocking trip with his mother to find his sister and his dad
03:02in the bathroom together having sex he saw them through the window and naturally he was upset
03:12and confused about what he was actually seeing in the moment tom decided to just keep quiet not cause a
03:22scene and just carry on as usual he was already struggling with the house move but to suddenly see
03:30his dad and his sister i mean that would mess up anyone psychologically eventually tom just couldn't keep
03:40it quiet anymore and he confronted his sister jesse who was played by actress laura belmont he was angry
03:48he wanted an explanation yet his sister just denied everything she played it all down but of course
03:57it was quite clear she was lying there was no denying it i mean tom saw it for himself with
04:05his own eyes
04:06yet jesse clammed up and you know pretended like everything was fine she obviously had been groomed
04:14from a young age so in her eyes there was nothing wrong with what was happening of course tom couldn't
04:23just forget about it i mean he knew what he saw and something of that magnitude needed to be addressed
04:30you know not brushed under the carpet tom would actually go on to find some private photos of jesse
04:39jesse and their dad together naked which confirmed all of his suspicions
04:45what he saw in the bathroom that day that wasn't a one-off no no this incestuous twisted and sordid
04:55relationship between jesse and her dad well that had been going on for many years long before they ever
05:04got to devon tom kept the photo and once again confronted his sister yet she still carried on
05:11denying everything not taking no for an answer tom decided to keep a close eye on his sister and his
05:19father and eventually found their secret hiding spot it was an old disused wartime bunker atop a cliff
05:28completely isolated and this was the spot where the dad frequently took his daughter and sexually abused her
05:37this wasn't a relationship jesse didn't want this but she was old enough to know by that point that what
05:45she
05:45was doing with her father was wrong yet she had no choice in the matter things finally culminated when the
05:54family's newborn baby was rushed to hospital suffering anal injuries and i must say when i saw all this
06:04unfold it it really freaked me out it it was just so disturbing i had never expected the baby to
06:14be one of the dad's victims utterly depraved but you know i have to hand it to the director tim
06:23roff in the
06:25way he handled the material there wasn't this big revelation or announcement no instead it was revealed
06:38very subtly so the audience could piece together what had actually happened once tom saw what had
06:49happened to the baby he knew who was responsible he couldn't stand back any longer so he decided to come
06:57clean and tell his mother just how dangerous the dad was and implied that he was responsible for what
07:06what happened to the baby which of course panicked her the dad would eventually get his comeuppance
07:12and that was definitely satisfying to see so i guess in some ways there was a you know kind of
07:21a happy
07:21ending now before we get into the performances i did want to share my theory on the tom character
07:30while this may sound strange to some i got the impression that tom was secretly infatuated with
07:40his sister you see tom was this really awkward kid who clearly was suffering from some sort of
07:49undiagnosed mental disorder he had these very confused feelings for his sister that would definitely
07:57cross the line when it comes to a sibling relationship i mean even just from his mannerisms tom seemed more
08:08like just an overprotective brother and what was interesting was that jesse knew this she knew that her
08:16brother had these dark thoughts and what did she do well she weaponized her sexuality and played mind games
08:26with him now you would ask why would jesse do this well ultimately jesse liked having control
08:36you have to remember that jesse was in this incestuous relationship with her father and had been for a very
08:44long time she didn't want that and yet she was trapped she had no choice jesse had no say in
08:54the matter
08:54but when it came to her brother she could manipulate him she could manipulate him she could be the one
09:01in control
09:03and she liked that you know a good example of this would be the scene where tom had the photo
09:11and confronted
09:13his sister he stormed into her room and got on top of her demanding an answer and then eventually the
09:22bed
09:23covers came off and jesse was laying there completely naked it seemed that she was quite happy laying there
09:31letting tom her own brother see everything and you know when i saw that that was the first time that
09:40i felt some sort of sexual tension between the two characters jesse should have remained covered up
09:50and more importantly she should have wanted to keep her modesty but hey this wasn't any
09:58normal family jesse continued to play these mind games on her brother because that's what she was
10:08conditioned to do jesse was only copying the control of behavior that she'd seen from her own father
10:16and then applying it to tom i mean how about the scene where jesse persuaded her friend carol to sleep
10:25with tom her own brother who was a virgin it certainly was a strange request but carol being this free
10:35loving you know dancer from london she agreed and began seducing tom at first tom was a little shy
10:45but uh he eventually started to enjoy the experience but then jesse suddenly came into the room
10:52and told carol to stop i was certainly strange because obviously jesse was the one that set the
10:59whole thing up but i guess the visual of seeing tom her own brother becoming intimate with another
11:08woman clearly triggered some sort of emotional response i mean it's almost as if jesse was jealous
11:18and didn't want to see carol take tom's virginity away and i bring up jealousy and you can apply the
11:28same
11:28to tom who increasingly became more jealous over the relationship between his dad and jesse tom was
11:39psychologically scarred psychologically damaged and didn't have the mental capacity to fully comprehend
11:47what was actually going on between his sister and his father he stupidly aimed his anger at the wrong
11:55person he aimed it at the victim jesse and at one point in the film we saw tom grab the
12:04family camcorder
12:05and go up to the bunker to film the sexual abuse that was going on tom wanted some hard evidence
12:13so
12:13nobody could dispute his claims but later on we saw tom throw away the tape he was going to expose
12:25everyone he was going to come clean and everybody was going to know how sick and depraved his dad was
12:33but then he had this change of heart and decided to carry on and keep quiet you see this is
12:44the key thing to
12:45remember here tom of course wanted to stop the disgusting behavior and wanted to show
12:53just how much of a monster his dad was but on top of that he also wanted to hurt jesse
13:01simply because
13:03he couldn't be with her by destroying that tape by throwing away that evidence that he had filmed
13:11he was allowing jesse's suffering to continue and he knew that it really was a love-hate relationship
13:23between tom and jesse and many times their relationship even got physical with them hitting each other and
13:32getting into fights for me seeing all of that unfold it made me think that this constant physicality that
13:43they had between one another was a way for them both to release some of the sexual tension that they
13:53had
13:53for each other now when it comes to the performances i want to give credit to the actress
14:01lara belmont who played jesse she really was outstanding in this movie this was actually
14:10belmont's debut movie this was her first appearance so you know when you think about it that's actually
14:17quite remarkable i mean let's face it the jesse character you know it carries so much weight so much
14:26baggage that any actor stepping into that role you know it would be a challenge for them to undertake
14:34the fact that belmont came in and just nailed the performance i was really really impressed
14:43in my eyes she was the best part of the film and i'm genuinely surprised that she never went on
14:51to
14:51have a big hollywood career because in the war zone she showed so much potential ray winston gave a
15:01compelling performance as the perverted father who ultimately tore his family apart the character
15:10started off you know very reserved and inconspicuous but eventually his true monstrous ways came to the
15:20surface i can't say that i was a big fan of the character in fact i hated him but after
15:28seeing the ending
15:30and seeing what happened to the baby even i wanted to you know get some revenge on the guy the
15:37dad was a
15:38real detestable scumbag but you know when it comes to my reaction that was all down to the powerful
15:46performance that ray winston gave so yeah just a brilliant job from him colin farrell was also very
15:54good in his limited role playing jesse's love interest nick once farrell was introduced i just assumed
16:04that uh his character would be heavily involved with the story but that wasn't the case he uh showed up
16:13and quickly vanished it definitely was a shame because obviously colin farrell we all know he's a very
16:20talented actor uh but unfortunately this was a very early role for him and yeah obviously he was just
16:28trying to get some credits to his name so unfortunately we didn't see any real performance
16:34from him you know one aspect of the film that i really really liked was the cinematography by
16:42Seamus McGarvey he depicted the rural devon landscape with these wonderful wide shots of the windy coastline
16:52and the overcast skies those visuals really created this deep sense of isolation which obviously mirrored the
17:05character's emotional state it was strange because you know there were so many shots of these big wide
17:15open spaces yet somehow it all felt very claustrophobic as if only the family themselves existed
17:28mcgarvey also used a very muted color palette which did fall in line with the story's disgusting
17:39subject matter it was constantly wet windy and gray with the only color really coming from the
17:49green fields that we saw i mean i've actually been to devon and uh yeah the weather wasn't too bad
17:55so
17:56maybe they just went you know in the off season but uh either way some brilliant uh cinematography
18:02from mcgarvey and so dislikes for the war zone from 1999 my biggest dislike for the film would have
18:13to be the score by composer simon boswell now first and foremost boswell is a very talented composer
18:23and he's provided several scores for some great films including the crying game but when it comes to
18:31the war zone i just really wasn't that impressed now there was nothing outright wrong with the score
18:40it was perfectly fine i just found it at times very whimsical and i don't think it suited the
18:51story's dark nature i mean maybe that was the filmmaker's intention to have such a contrast in styles when
19:00it came to the visuals and the score but uh i just felt it was too overproduced and just didn't
19:09click
19:09and to be honest with the story and the performances i actually don't think you even needed a score
19:17you know i've seen many messed up movies over the last couple of years and a lot of the time
19:26the score is basically non-existent and for me i think that is what the kind of route that tim
19:35roth
19:35should have gone down in so ratings for the war zone from 1999 i'm going to be rating this movie
19:43a strong six out of ten i thought the war zone was a tremendous drama from tim roth that showcased
19:54this
19:54dysfunctional family who whose lives basically were torn apart by a depraved incestuous relationship
20:03from ray winston to tilda swinton to laura belmont i mean there were some very strong performances in
20:11this film and they all deserve high praise when it comes to the pacing of the film yes it was
20:19slow
20:20but that was deliberate to allow the tension between the characters to build naturally for me
20:28some of the shots did linger on a bit too long and well if i was in the editing room
20:36i probably would
20:37have uh removed at least about 10 minutes of this but either way it was still a great drama if
20:43you've
20:43seen the war zone then please let me know your thoughts and memories in the comment section below
20:49for those who haven't this is a strong recommendation from me yes it's dark yes it's not for everyone
20:59but if you're in the mood for a compelling british drama then give it a go and well that's all
21:08from me
21:08today guys and do hope you've enjoyed this review of the war zone from 1999 i'll be back next week
21:15with
21:15another cult movie review don't forget to like and subscribe also want to say a big thank you to all
21:22my current and new subscribers really appreciate you guys support and of course take care
21:42um
21:51so
21:53You
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