A team of war journalists drives from New York to Washington D.C. They want to photograph the President before Western Forces soldiers reach the White House. On the way, they pass through a broken America where the rules of the old civilization no longer apply. Alex Garland's film asks what it costs to turn catastrophe into images.
Civil War is a 2024 action, drama and thriller film directed by Alex Garland. This breakdown covers 4 techniques (2 narrative, 1 cinematography and 1 sound), each with the scene where you can see it. If you like how it is made, Das Boot uses several of the same techniques.
Making the main character someone who secretly watches others, then showing you what they see. You become aware that you are watching too, and that it makes you complicit.
How this film uses it
Garland builds the film around Lee's cameras. You are always watching the war through the lens of a photographer who is watching it through her own lens. The layers of watching never end, and they make you question why we consume images of suffering.
Where to see it
Jessie stepping into the gunfire at the White House to get a photo while Lee pushes her to safety. Lee is shot, and Jessie photographs her mentor as she dies. That moment is the film's central moral question.
Shooting with a handheld camera so the frame shakes and moves with the action. This documentary-style look, called cinema vérité, puts you uncomfortably close to the character.
How this film uses it
Rob Hardy shoots the combat sequences the way a war photographer would. The camera catches what it can, loses the action and finds it again. That is fairly close to how it feels to be present at violence you can't control.
Where to see it
The Western Forces' assault on the White House. The camera moves through the fight with the soldiers and journalists, and the film does little to prepare you before the shooting starts.
Mixing battle sound the way a soldier would hear it, with chaotic, physical noise coming from every direction. Nothing is tidied up for your comfort, so you feel inside the fight.
How this film uses it
Garland uses sound to disorient you as much as to inform you. Shots come from off-screen, there is silence before a sniper fires and close gunfire has a physical crack. Your body reacts before your understanding catches up.
Where to see it
The sniper standoff at an abandoned Winter Wonderland display. It is the film's longest sound design showpiece. Silence and violence alternate, with no music to support them.
Introducing a large cast only through what they say and do in the present. There are no flashbacks or explained histories, yet each character feels distinct.
How this film uses it
Garland never explains the political causes of the war, the journalists' histories or what the factions believe. You know the characters only by what they do in the moments you witness. The context never comes.
Where to see it
The exchange with the soldier who asks 'What kind of American are you?'. The film leaves the political question unanswered and stays on the human one.
Questions
Civil War: quick answers
What filmmaking techniques does Civil War use?
CineCode breaks down 4 techniques in Civil War (2024): Voyeurism as Audience Mirror, Handheld Cinema Vérité, Immersive Combat Sound Design and Ensemble Characterization Without Backstory.
Who directed Civil War?
Alex Garland directed Civil War, released in 2024. CineCode also covers Ex Machina (2014), Annihilation (2018), Men (2022), Warfare (2025).
What films are similar to Civil War?
Films that share techniques with Civil War include Das Boot (1981), Sicario (2015), Black Hawk Down (2001), Warfare (2025).
