Documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman has won accolades the world over for his gritty docs, Cartel Land and City of Ghosts, but now he’s making the move to narrative features with A Private War. That’s a transition that many documentarians have found hard to stick, but based on this trailer it looks like Heineman has a winner on his hands, and possibly an Oscar nomination for star Rosamund Pike who plays fallen war journalist Marie Colvin.
A Private War chronicles the career of courageous journalist Marie Colvin, who traveled the globe covering some of the harshest, war-torn countries. It’s her dedication to reporting on these tragedies that not only costs her an eye and causes her to suffer from PTSD, it will eventually cost Colvin her life. The film co-stars Jamie Dornan, Stanley Tucci, and Tom Hollander with a script by Grace of Monaco writer Arash Amel. Let’s hope this docudrama turns out better than that famously-panned film did.
Here’s a synopsis: In a world where journalism is under attack, Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike) is one of the most celebrated war correspondents of our time. Colvin is an utterly fearless and rebellious spirit, driven to the frontlines of conflicts across the globe to give voice to the voiceless, while constantly testing the limits between bravery and bravado. After being hit by a grenade in Sri Lanka, she wears a distinctive eye patch and is still as comfortable sipping martinis with London’s elite as she is confronting dictators. Colvin sacrifices loving relationships, and over time, her personal life starts to unravel as the trauma she’s witnessed takes its toll. Yet, her mission to show the true cost of war leads her along with renowned war photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) to embark on the most dangerous assignment of their lives in the besieged Syrian city of Homs. Based on the extraordinary life of Marie Colvin, A Private War is brought to the screen by Academy Award-nominee and critically acclaimed documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman in his pulse-pounding narrative feature debut.
A Private War opens November 2nd, which is prime awards season real estate.
