War Story

Released Jul 30, 2014

1 hr. 30 min.

Drama

List

57%

21 Reviews

Tomatometer

21%

100+ Ratings

Audience Score

Lee, a war photographer, spends most of her adult life in war zones documenting the catastrophes of other people. After she is kidnapped and brutalized in Libya, she recovers in Italy by helping a young Libyan trying to reach France.

Read More

Read Less

Prime Video

Apple TV

Rent War Story on Prime Video, Apple TV, or buy it on Prime Video, Apple TV.

Audience Member

If I hadn't read the description of this movie, it would have taken me at least half of it to figure out that Lee (the main character) was a photo-journalist. The first agonizing third of the movie are very extended scenes of her holed up in an Italian hotel room after she has been released from whatever it is that happened to her. We are given faint and I mean very faint clues about what has happened to her, other than she is a basket case. If you like extended scenes of a person apparently with some serious psychological problems moving the furniture around in the hotel room, you'll love this movie. Kingsley is a rip off. He is in the movie for about eight minutes. Having him as a title character is absurd. His part can best be described as a slightly extended cameo. As to the description given of the movie here at Rotten Tomatoes, the only time I saw Lee risk her life was when she was driving drunk on Italian highways. The whole movie left me high and dry. Bad things happen to people sometimes. Dragging me into the malaise and black quagmire of these events without telling me why I am there is not good movie making. Ugh!

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

01/17/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Perhaps the worst movie I have ever seen. The first 30 minutes is some of the worst film making in the history of cinema. Pass on this, or you will regret it. Ugh....

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

Full Review

Audience Member

3.0 War Story (2014) - A raw and fairly brutal story about two women facing different forms of violent blowback from the Islamic world. One, played by an understated Catherine Keener, is a war photojournalist who was taken hostage and the other is a young North African girl who is facing sharp difficulties of her own. While it did seem a bit heavy on silent character building on the part of Keener's character and felt a bit stretched to fill its feature length runtime, it was worth a watch. It is a story about perseverance. It is a story about compassion as a compass when everything else hits the fan. Overall, the film is very visual in its storytelling. The score is very minimalistic. The only redeeming quality of living in a situation such as this is that original compositions by Amy Lee are apparently playing on the radio all the time. While it isn't the 90 minute Evanescence music video I was hoping for (kidding), the handful of contributions that Amy made are solid and I am looking forward to the soundtrack album that she's releasing as a companion to the film. (12 August 2014)

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/23/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Weird film overall, as it was so dark and dare I say gloomy. But Catherine Keener can do no wrong in my eyes and in this leading role she kept my attention throughout and was as impressive an actress as ever.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

Read all reviews

Post a rating

Mark Jackson

Director

Catherine Keener

Lee

Hafsia Herzi

Hafsia

Ben Kingsley

Albert

Vincenzo Amato

Filippo

Donatella Finocchiaro

Daria

Show Less Cast & Crew

Show More Cast & Crew

84%

82%

The Good Lie

100%

79%

Layla M.

64%

100%

Sin Alas

30%

31%

All I See Is You

TRAILER

for All I See Is You

80%

89%

In the Last Days of the City

TRAILER

for In the Last Days of the City

Discover more movies and TV shows.

View More

Critics Consensus: Guardians of the Galaxy is Certified Fresh

View more photos

Sheri Linden

Los Angeles Times

For much of the early going it's the burdened physicality that Keener brings to the role that tells us everything we need to know.

Aug 7, 2014

Full Review

Scott Foundas

Variety

Jackson's spare, quietly powerful sophomore feature demonstrates an impressive control of mood and tone and the ability to tell a story largely without words.

Aug 4, 2014

Full Review

Christy Lemire

RogerEbert.com

There's minimalist filmmaking that's quietly intriguing, and then there's emotional detachment that's stultifying to the point of being nap-inducing. War Story falls into the latter category.

Rated: 1.5/4

Aug 1, 2014

Full Review

Rob Thomas

Madison Movie

A raw and powerful film.

Jun 26, 2020

Full Review

Kim Voynar

Movie City News

With War Story, I think it's safe to say Jackson's found the storytelling niche of a rising auteur, and he plans to stay there.

Jun 26, 2020

Full Review

Benjamin Umstead

ScreenAnarchy

The beauty and sadness of 'War Story' is ... in its willingness to be terrifying, and then its ability to be terrifying without actually raising your pulse.

May 26, 2020

Full Review

Read all reviews

Synopsis

Lee, a war photographer, spends most of her adult life in war zones documenting the catastrophes of other people. After she is kidnapped and brutalized in Libya, she recovers in Italy by helping a young Libyan trying to reach France.

Director: Mark Jackson
Executive Producer: Scott Macaulay, Brad Tuckman
Screenwriter: Mark Jackson, Kristin Gore
Distributor: IFC Films
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Jul 30, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Apr 12, 2017

Most Popular at Home Now