''War Story'' is a 2014 American

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by Mark Jackson and starring

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Acad ...

Hafsia Herzi Hafsia Herzi (born 25 January 1987) is a French actress and film director. She is best known for her debut role in the award-winning Franco-Tunisian feature '' The Secret of the Grain'' for which she won the award for most promising actress at the ...

and

Ben Kingsley Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji; 31 December 1943) is an English actor. He has received various accolades throughout his career spanning five decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and tw ...

. Screenplay is by

Kristin Gore Kristin Carlson Gore (born June 5, 1977) is an American author and screenwriter. She is the second daughter of former U.S. vice president Al Gore and advocate Tipper Gore (née Aitcheson). Early life Gore was born in Carthage, Tennessee. She ...

, music by

Dave Eggar Dave Eggar is an American cellist, pianist and composer. Early life Eggar was a musical prodigy as a child, beginning to play the cello and piano at age three and performing as a singer and actor on Broadway and at the Metropolitan Opera at ...

, Chuck Palmer, and

Amy Lee Amy Lynn Hartzler (; born December 13, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is the co-founder, lead vocalist, and lead songwriter of the rock band Evanescence. Alongside her contributions with the band, Lee has also particip ...

, and cinematography by

Reed Morano Reed Morano (born April 15, 1977) is an American film director and cinematographer. Morano was the first woman in history to win both the Emmy and Directors Guild Award for directing a drama series in the same year for the pilot episode of The H ...

. The film had its world premiere at

2014 Sundance Film Festival The 2014 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 16, 2014 until January 26, 2014 in Park City, Utah, United States, with screenings in Salt Lake City, Ogden, and Sundance Resort in Utah. The festival opened with '' Whiplash'' directed by D ...

on January 19, 2014. The film later screened at 2014 International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Premise

A war photographer, Lee goes to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

instead of going back home to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, to forget about being taken hostage in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Suda ...

. In Sicily, she crosses paths with her former lover and mentor Albert and tries to help Hafsia, a young Tunisian migrant, escape to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Cast

as Lee *

as Hafsia *

as Albert *

Donatella Finocchiaro Donatella Finocchiaro (born 16 November 1970) is an Italian actress. She has appeared in more than 20 films since 2002. She starred in ''The Wedding Director'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. ...

as Daria * Vincenzo Amato as Filippo

Music

Music for the film was written and composed by

, singer of American rock band

Evanescence Evanescence is an American rock band founded in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1995 by singer and musician Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody. After recording independent EPs as a duo in the late 90's, and a demo CD, Evanescence released their debut ...

, and

. The soundtrack album was released on August 25, 2014.

Reception

''War Story'' received a mixed to negative response from critics, with a 47% rating on rotten tomatoes.

Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...

in his review for ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...

'' praised the film, calling it "A compelling, beautifully filmed character study of a war zone photographer in personal turmoil." Mark Adams of '' Screen International'' praised the film by saying that it is "A dense and taut drama, a study on post-traumatic stress disorder that at its best is strikingly tense and heavy with sadness." Chris Michael in his review for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', gave the film three out of five stars and said that "Catherine Keener exudes dark anxiety in Mark Jackson's tale of the European immigrant experience."

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:War Story 2014 films American independent films Films scored by Amy Lee Films set in Sicily American drama films 2014 drama films 2014 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films