The War Zone (1999)

Director:

Tim Roth

Writers:

Alexander Stuart (novel)
Alexander Stuart (screenplay)

Release Date:

11 June 1999 (Italy)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An alienated teenager, saddened that he has moved away from London, must find a way to deal with a dark family secret.

Plot Keywords:

Family Secret | Teen | Pregnancy | Undressing | Anal Rape

Awards:

9 wins & 10 nominations

Cast

Ray Winstone	...	Dad
Lara Belmont	...	Jessie
Freddie Cunliffe	...	Tom
Tilda Swinton	...	Mum
Colin Farrell	...	Nick (as Colin J. Farrell)
Aisling O'Sullivan	...	Carol
Kate Ashfield	...	Lucy
Megan Thorp	...	Baby Alice
Kim Wall	...	Barman
Annabelle Apsion	...	Nurse

Also Known As:

Tim Roth's The War Zone (USA) (poster title)
Zona di guerra (Italy)

MPAA:

Rated R for sexual content, some involving molestation, and for nudity, language and a scene of violence.

Runtime:

98 min

Country:

Italy | UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:R | Finland:K-16 | France:-16 | Hong Kong:III | New Zealand:R18 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/16 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Hartland, Devon, England, UK

Company:

Channel Four Films

Trivia:

According to director 'Tim Roth' the bunker scene was so difficult to film that the sound man almost ruined a take by crying into his microphone. Ray Winstone also found acting the scene upsetting and nearly left the production because of it.

Father Knows Best

A melancholic boy faces the prospects of adapting to life in a craggy, rugged English countryside separated from the London he knows. We soon discover things are going to go from bad to worse. "The War Zone" is a special film about incest taken entirely from the perspective of the teenage son, Tom, and his sister, Jessie, giving it a quality of children versus their parents. Incest has been broached before in other films like "Celebration" and "The Sweet Hereafter" but never with such all encompassing realism as "The War Zone". You feel like a voyeur prying in other people's business. Director Tim Roth presents scene after scene of stark, uninviting, seashore landscapes as well as a mesmerizing movie score that vacillates between rushed crescendos and unnerving calm to give "The War Zone" a cold, somber tenseness. The acting is outstanding but Freddie Cunliffe as Tom and Lara Belmont as Jessie carry the film with their brave, demanding portrayals. Tom must weigh the secret he knows with preserving the stability of the home. He is so perplexed about normal love and the mere act of lust that when he comes upon attractive neighbor, Lucy and the set-up vixen, Carol, he becomes stupefied rather than attracted to them. Jessie must walk a fine line between the sex act she craves and her sense of right and wrong. Indeed, at one point, we sympathize with her less because she doesn't seem to mind her predicament. "The War Zone" ends in a way some will find unsatisfying but it is very consistent with the film's theme - lost children who will never find their way back.