GHOSTS Of WAR
UK, 2020, 94 minutes, Colour.
Brenton Thwaites, Kyle Gallner, Alan Ritchson, Theo Rossi, Skylar Astin, Billy Zane.
Directed by Eric Bress.
Ghosts of Wars starts out as a World War II film, a group of young soldiers crossing France, passing refugees, especially Jewish refugees whom they help, occupying a château.
The film is also a haunted house film, the Château with all kinds of apparitions and effects on the soldiers.
As the soldiers a deal with the conflicts and their own personal demons, retracing their steps, there is quite a twist – the soldiers finding themselves in combat in Afghanistan, in a house, trying to save a family, death and destruction, hauntings as in the previous French segment.
And, a final twist, they are actually part of a psychological experiment in a laboratory, offering them different scenarios for their response and post-traumatic stress.
A blend of the usual and the unusual, the soldiers led by Australian actor Brenton Thwaites.
1. The title? A war film? A horror film? The haunted mansion? Psychological experimentation?
2. The World War II setting, friends, the countryside, the mansion, exteriors and interiors? The comparison with Afghanistan, the locations, the village, the house? The transition to the laboratories? The musical score?
3. 1944, the focus on the small unit, the eerie suggestions of the opening, the men lying in a circle, Chris and the apparition of the man with the cigar, vanishing? Intimations of the haunting?
4. Their mission, cross-country, the German van exploding, the confrontation with the survivors, shooting them, taking the gold teeth? The encounter with the Jewish refugees, giving the woman the greatcoat, the gold? Arriving at the mansion? The occupying squad, suspicious behaviour, eager to go?
5. The mansion, the reputation of the owners, helping Jewish survivors, their execution? The gradual visit visualising of the family, the photo (appearing and disappearing), as spectral presences, aggressive, the different deaths, the girl hanging, the boy drowned, the father on fire, the attack on the mother? The group finding their bodies in the house, burying them?
6. The members of the squad, Chris, young, his leadership, Eugene, his glasses, the intellectual, reading, knowing German? The other men and their contribution? Settling in, meals, interactions? Friends?
7. The sounds, the eerie atmosphere, suspicions, speculation about the ghosts, nightmares, apparitions? Tappert, his tough stances, the grenade, his injuries, survival, the men and their concern?
8. The experiences, the burial, the ghosts turning on them, the decision to leave, retracing their steps, passing the ambulance, the exploded van, the Jewish refugees? Returning to the mansion?
9. The attack, the threats, the responses? The mysterious word? The diary, the empty pages, the page removed? The appearances of the ghosts?
10. The transition to Afghanistan, war action, ISIS and the attacks, the family in the house, the American support, urged to hide in the walls, the attack on the family, parallel to the 1944 situation? The men, their consciences, what they might have done to save the people?
11. Waking up in the laboratory, the doctor and the assistant, sedation, immersing the men in the 1944, scenario, helping them to deal with the trauma? Chris and his arguments, the injuries of the other men, lying in the laboratory? Chris and his wanting to go back, to make amends?
12. The abrupt ending, the impact of the Afghanistan twist, Chris, his eyes – and the audience to speculate on what would happen?
