TRIAGE

Ireland/France, 2009, 99 minutes, Colour.
Colin Farrell, Jamie Sives, Paz Vega, Kellie Reilly, Christopher Lee, Branko Djuric, Juliet Stevenson.
Directed by Danis Tanovic.


Triage is set in the 1980s but is very relevant to journalists and photographers in war action in succeeding decades, especially with the deaths of so many journalists and photographers in the Middle East and other countries at the beginning of the 21st century.

Colin Farrell and Jamie Sives portray two young Irishmen, enthusiastic, photographing dramatic sequences in Kurdistan. They are in the middle of action, especially an ambush by the Kurds, and photograph the makeshift hospital and the work of Doctor Talzani. He reviews the conditions of the patients, allotting them different colours for triage or for no medication and surgery. He also, in a mercy killing, shoots the soldiers who have no hope of recovery. This is also photographed.

The film moves between Kurdistan and Ireland, with the two men and their wives, Sives’ wife being pregnant and expecting soon. They say that they will be back very quickly.

However, only Mark (Colin Farrell) returns and is deeply affected by what he has experienced. His wife (Paz Vega) is concerned about him and brings in her grandfather, a Spanish psychologist who had worked with Franco in the civil war, especially treating those who had killed in war trying to better their condition. There is a philosophical discussion in the middle of the film about this issue and what is better, helping people to become better or abandoning them as irretrievable. Christopher Lee is very good in this role.

Gradually, with the help of some therapy, Mark is able to admit what happened, his attempts to rescue David (Sives) after an attack, their falling into a river and his having to let him go because he could not carry him. This leads to some kind of healing and reconciliation – and for David’s wife (Kelly Reilly) to know what happened actually to her husband.

The film is grim, often hard-hitting, reminding audiences of the trauma in this kind of photojournalistic work in war areas.

1. The meaning of the title? The explanation? Injuries, healing? Choices for life or death? The doctor, his decisions, the coloured tickets? Mercy shooting of those who would not recover?

2. The director, his Balkan background and experience? His experience of war, injuries? Journalists? Photojournalists?

3. The Spanish locations for Kurdistan? Mountains, the desert, the river? The caves? The isolation? The war experiences, ambushes? Hospital conditions? Real? The musical score?

4. The Irish settings, ordinary, pubs and homes, doctors and hospitals?

5. The contrast of the two worlds? The framework and Mark’s being injured, the explosion? The work in Kurdistan, the scenes in Ireland? Mark’s injuries, coming home, therapy, the ending and the truth?

6. Mark and David, their years together, the skill of their photography? Action, daring? The adrenalin and the excitement in war? The success of their pictures, graphic? Being in the middle of the ambush? The doctor and the wounded? The discussions with the doctor? The discussions with David – his wanting to go home, wanting to be with his wife when she gave birth? Mark and his wanting to stay? Going with the troops, David departing?

7. Ireland, the pub, the talk, Elena and her Spanish background? With Mark? Diane and David as a couple? Her pregnancy? The time for her giving birth? The bonds between them all, the issue of names, calling the boy Mark? The return home? Elena and Mark and the tensions? His secrecy? The dancing, wanting her to be pregnant? Diane and her pregnancy, the mystery of what happened to David?

8. Mark, the explosion, his injury, the doctor testing him, not being paralysed? In triage?

9. His recovery, his mental state, the physical injuries? His return home, going to the psychiatrist, his stubbornness, ridiculing the psychiatrist with the Rorschach blots?

10. Elena and her grandfather? His background, their argument, the speech about healing? Healing to make people better or not?

11. Morales, with Mark, the confrontation, their discussions, getting him to draw the maps, his stories (and the flashbacks to the boy in Beirut and Mark’s concern about the body not being able to be returned to its family)? The woman in Uganda? The gradual effect of his talking, the therapy?

12. Morales getting him to draw the river, tell the story of what happened? The visuals, his catching up with David, the photo, the explosion, David losing his legs? Mark carrying David, the effort, jumping into the river, Mark being choked by David’s grip, letting him go, his drowning in the river? His body lost? The effect on Mark?

13. His telling the story, Diane and Elena listening? Diane and her grief? Elena and her finding her relationship with Mark again?

14. The exploration of war experiences, non-combatants, moral judgments? Post-traumatic effect?