A Private War 15

ANDY’S RATING: ★★★★ In cinemas on Friday

“I CARED enough to go to these places and write in a way that would make someone else care as much I did,” says war reporter Marie Colvin at the start of this powerful true story.

Soon her voice will be replaced by that of British actress Rosamund Pike.

The join is seamless but this isn’t just a note-perfect impression. A brilliant Pike will pick at that quote for the remainder of this riveting movie.

The drama begins with an aerial shot of the blasted building in Homs where Colvin was murdered in 2012 for disproving Syrian despot Bashar al-Assad’s claims he was only blowing up terrorists (a US judge ruled she was deliberately targeted just last week).

Then we jump back in time to 2001 to see her losing an eye in Sri Lanka and forging a partnership with photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan).

What made Colvin such a brilliant journalist was her ability to conflate the political with the personal so it’s entirely appropriate that the film is as much a character study as a war movie.

We see her forge relationships with the victims of conflict. Their voices give lie to the war-mongers but they take a dreadful toll on her personally.

Haunted by her experiences, Colvin self-medicates with vodka but her most dangerous addiction is her relentless search for the truth.