‘Civil War’ Shows American Divisions Through a Glass

“Holy S***! What a F****** rush!” exclaims Joel, a cocky Hispanic photojournalist, after he watches rebel militants execute uniformed soldiers captured in a firefight early in Alexander Garland’s Civil War. The character, played gratingly by Narcos star Wagner Moura, is not reacting to a war crime in Ukraine, the Middle East, or sub-Saharan Africa but somewhere along a circuitous route between New York City and Washington, D.C. On that difficult road, supplies are short, tensions are high, danger lurks around every corner, and—perhaps most discouraging of all—Canadian dollars are the only hard currency.