Shell Shock (2009)
"Triage" (original title)

The wife of a photojournalist sets out to discover why he came home from a recent assignment without his colleague.

Director:

Danis Tanovic

Writers:

Danis Tanovic, Scott Anderson (book)

Stars:

Colin Farrell, Jamie Sives, Paz Vega

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Colin Farrell	...	Mark Walsh
Jamie Sives	...	David
Paz Vega	...	Elena Morales
Kelly Reilly	...	Diane
Branko Djuric	...	Dr. Talzani
Mozaffar Shafeie	...	Talzani's Assitant
Kae Bahar	...	Wounded Man (as Karzan Sherabayani)
Luis Callejo	...	Pesh Merga Commander
Alex Spijksma	...	Pesh Merga Sergeant (as Alejandro Sánchez)
Ian McElhinney	...	Ivan
Juliet Stevenson	...	Amy
Michelle Hartman	...	Nurse
Eileen Walsh	...	Dr. Christopher
Nick Dunning	...	Dr. Hersbach
Christopher Lee	...	Joaquín Morales

Storyline

Mark and David are best friends, photo journalists going from war to war. In the spring of 1988, they're in Kurdistan, at an isolated mountain clinic, waiting for an offensive. David's had enough - he wants to go home to Dublin to his pregnant wife. He leaves, with Mark promising to follow in a few days. A week or so later, Mark's home after being wounded, but David's not been heard from. Mark's slow recovery and uncharacteristic behavior alarm his girlfriend, Elena, who asks her grandfather, a Spanish psychologist, to come to Dublin to help. Are there things the carefree and detached journalist is bottling up? Is he a casualty of war?

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Plot Keywords:

photojournalist | best friend | kurdistan | severed leg | ireland | 

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for war violence, disturbing images, language, brief sexuality and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Bac Films [fr]

Country:

Ireland Spain Belgium France

Language:

English Kurdish Spanish Swahili French

Release Date:

13 November 2009 (Spain)

Also Known As:

Shell Shock

Filming Locations:

Alicante, Alicante, Comunidad Valenciana, Spain

Company Credits

Production Co:

Parallel Film Productions, Asap Films, Freeform Spain

Technical Specs

Runtime:

99 min 99 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Christopher Lee stated in several interviews that due to his age, this film would mark the last time he would accept a lead role.

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Quotes

Joaquín Morales: Why are you so concerned about what happens to the dead?

User Reviews

Great story, poorly done...

Firstly, let me just say that the TIFF audience did seem to like it and they responded well to it. There were quite a few moments of light humour that were enjoyed and the Q&A session revealed that a lot of people truly were touched by the movie.

Next, let me say that the story was quite powerful. The character played by Farrel was developed and real. It would be hard not to be emotionally effected by this film, and it would be hard not to leave with something to think about.

Unfortunately, a great story and a great character don't make for a great movie. While many of the scenes were spectacular and a lot of the dialogue worked quite well, on a whole the film didn't do its story justice. It actually felt, much of the time, as if I were watching the subplot of another film. In fact, if you've watched enough war films you'll probably find that this movie WAS the subplot to many of those films. That alone doesn't equal a bad film, but it does make it more challenging for the film to hold its own. That didn't happen. Farrel's character--due to his acting as well as the writer/director's desire to explore that type of character--was fine through and through, but the characters around him all tended to speak their lines solely for the purposes of advancing Farrel's character, or to push out a philosophy of war. To illustrate this, just pay attention to the scene in which we're introduced to the grandfather, Christopher Lee's character. That scene introduces a whole back story and turbulent relationship that has nothing to do with anything... it was just pinned on the story awkwardly so as to justify a powerful speech in which he defended his questionable actions in a long-ago war. Well, that's pretty much what the rest of the story felt like. And the payoff wasn't great. It ended mostly how you expect it will end, and gives a message we've heard from a thousand other films.

So, again, if I had the option, I'd give this story a 9/10. The execution of the story remains a 6.