Inside the most unnerving scene in `Civil War'
America has been shattered in “Civil War.” An armed alliance between Texas and California known as the Western Forces is on the verge of recapturing a besieged capital. A team of journalists heads from New York City to Washington, D.C., in hopes of landing one last interview with the president, an illegal thirdtermer gone rogue.
As they make their journey, Lee (Kirsten Dunst), a veteran photojournalist who has witnessed conflicts all over the world, reluctantly takes the inexperienced young Jessie (Cailee Spaeny) under her wing. Lee sees something of herself in Jessie and wants to spare her younger counterpart the disillusionment and dismay she has come to feel. All the work she has done has seemingly led to nothing, as the nation rushes headlong into a hopeless endgame.
Written and directed by Alex Garland, whose previous work includes the pessimistic, dystopian tales “Ex Machina” and “Annihilation,” the film walks a razor's edge, careful not to tip to one political perspective or another. Often it is unclear who is fighting on which side, as a hypnotic frenzy seems to have overtaken everyone.
No scene encapsulates the tricky balancing act of the film quite like one that involves actor Jesse Plemons, appearing in a cameo. Spaeny's character has briefly become separated from the other journalists she is traveling with, including Joel (Wagner Moura) and Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson). When the group finally finds Jessie, she is being held at gunpoint with another journalist in an open field by a small cadre of militiamen who have been dumping dead bodies from a truck into a crude mass grave.
An unnamed soldier of uncertain allegiance played by Plemons seems in charge. As Dunst's Lee, Joel, Sammy and another journalist try to figure out what to do, the decision is made to approach the soldiers in the hopes of saving Jessie and their colleague.
Plemons' soldier, wearing a disconcerting pair of red plastic sunglasses while he idly fingers his assault rifle, interrogates the group with unnerving calm. He asks them all to identify themselves with what has already become the signature line of the film: “What kind of American are you?”
He begins to shoot those whose answer he doesn't like, revealing a blatant racism and xenophobia. As it seems he is about to turn on Jessie, Sammy crashes into the moment in their truck, running down Plemons' character as they are able to make their escape — though not without losses.
Plemons' coldblooded psychotic is among the most terrifying things in “Civil War” and his scene is a pivotal one, essentially launching the journalists toward the final act of the movie.
In real life, Dunst and Plemons are married with two children. Having met while shooting a season of the television series “Fargo,” they also appeared together in Jane Campion's “The Power of the Dog,” both earning Oscar nominations for their performances.
In a recent interview alongside Spaeny, Dunst addressed what it was like to perform with her partner, especially since he had to embody such a disturbing character.
“I feel like Lee's approach in this scene is: We just gotta get through this and get out alive,” Dunst says. “So I wasn't scared of him as an actor. It's a weird question because Jesse and I, we fell in love creatively first as actors and how we work together. And we just love that process.”
Continues Dunst, “I'm going to be very honest — watching him play that role, I was like, `Dang, my baby is crushing this role.' So that's how I felt. I was like, `F—, he's a good actor.' The scenario was very scary, but I wasn't scared of him. But just looking at the mass grave, all of it around me, was terrifying.”