War Zone (1999)

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Avg Rating: 4.3 / 5. Voted: 85

No one cared thus far. Do you?

AKA:
Year: 1999
Directed by: Tim Roth
Starring: Freddie Cunliffe (Tom), Lara Belmont (Jessie), Tilda Swinton (Mother), Ray Winstone (Father)
Country: UK
Language: English (English Subtitles)
Runtime: 01:34:45
Genres: Misery-Depressing, Incest, Old-Young, Domestic Abuse, Rape-Sexual-Violence against Women, Voyeur, Siblings-Family

Plot – Spoilers:
The War Zone is an incredibly sad but beautifully directed movie by Tim Roth – his only directorial venture. When you’re done with it, it will stay with you not just for its content but the way it has been presented, and will make you wish Tim Roth directed more movies.

Tom is a teenager who’s recently moved with his Dad, Mum and elder sister, Jessie to gloomy Devon from London. The weather and his family life ensures that he can barely keep his eyes open and he looks depressed for the most part. Mum who is pregnant delivers a baby girl en route to the hospital following an accident from which they all emerge unscathed. The baby enlivens things only mildly and the family continues to sit around in silence, a silence that is often wary when Dad is around. While Mum and Dad often engage in pleasant conversation there is something stirring beneath it all and she often is quick to attend to his needs, like sponging him when he gets home, almost like she knows he is best kept in a good frame of mind.

All this would seem like the fairly normal lives that a lot of people are used to growing up with, but there’s something more gut-wrenching that Tom is about to discover. He is a budding voyeur and soon stumbles on a scene that rips the whole lot apart.

The movie is based on the book, The War Zone by Alexander Stuart, a book that initially won the Whitbread Best Novel Award, but was later rejected after one of the judges threatened to quit. The movie version similarly has polarized opinions over the years, with critical views often ignoring the depth and sincerity with which it was made. Roth himself at the time of the movie’s release said that he had chosen to make this his debut directorial venture because he felt the story needed to be dramatized on screen by someone who knew what was right and wrong about it. He later named his grandfather as having abused him for years as a child. Incidentally, this granddad had also abused Roth’s father when he was a child.

Favourite Scenes:
1. Until Tom witnesses his father sodomizing Jessie, he often accuses Jessie of “allowing” it. To see her crying through it shakes up things for him and though he immediately doesn’t get what’s been happening, it does move him and perhaps leads him to the path he eventually takes.

2. The confrontation with Dad:
Jessie whimpering with her arms covering her ears while Dad goes into denial and self-righteous rage is so powerful, you could end up watching it like Tom, with your eyes half closed.

3. The final shot of Tom closing the door of the war shelter:
There are many ways to look at this. The sad and unfortunate possibility is that Tom is going to take over his Dad’s role and begin an incestuous relationship with Jessie. For Jessie, who’s been damaged for years, this would perhaps seem like a natural transfer of power from father to son.

We wish for heroic and happy endings but incest and abuse rarely do and The War Zone and Tim Roth aren’t scared to walk down the tough and risky path.

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KAN
KAN
September 21, 2023 6:38 pm

Powerful drama with amazing performances.
What happens after that door is shut at the end?
My guess is that she ‘comforts’ him in the only way she really knows how, and it’s what he’s secretly been wanting all along, which is why he is so pissed off when he discovers his Dad has got there first.
What happens when the wife returns with the baby and finds the dead body???
There was enough loose ends for a sequel, but it’s too late now.

Bob
Bob
April 30, 2022 6:30 pm

Where’s the missing 4 minutes???

Zed Man
Zed Man
January 9, 2022 7:39 am

Looks like a typical family compared to mine.

The Real Zed Man
The Real Zed Man
Reply to  Zed Man
January 9, 2022 1:00 pm

Actually I have a perfectly typical and functional family and stop impersonating me you miserable pity-seeking sack of horse shit!

Lotty Da
Lotty Da
October 27, 2021 5:03 am

Beautiful movie, slow but well done. The actor who plays brother Tom holds his own, but it is the sister Jess who shines here. She is a Star… Please tell me the ending isn’t what it looks like. That would be so sad.

Rotting Brit
Rotting Brit
October 12, 2021 12:21 am

she got nice titties tho

Joey
Joey
Reply to  Rotting Brit
June 23, 2022 2:00 pm

all the faggots who can’t get laid voting your comment down, what you said was so obviously true but I guess the fags on this site like saggy old lady tits, or no tits at all to reflect their nofap lifestyle

Janson
Janson
Reply to  Joey
August 1, 2023 11:20 am

Obvious incel is obvious

Jaaaaaack
Jaaaaaack
September 2, 2021 4:59 am

Now that… that was effed up.

???????
???????
May 15, 2021 6:27 am

excruciatingly stupid

Revelling Dicksauce
Revelling Dicksauce
January 20, 2021 2:13 pm

In England, this is what the average family looks like (apart from the hotness of the daughter of course)

:.:.:
:.:.:
Reply to  Revelling Dicksauce
June 22, 2021 10:49 pm

she looks like a bloated corpse but if that tickles your pickle

Mike James
Mike James
Reply to  Revelling Dicksauce
June 8, 2022 8:40 pm

Incest must be the norm in jolly old England, they all look like a bunch of inbreds there, starting from the top with the Royal Family.

A man
A man
Reply to  Mike James
June 9, 2022 12:06 am

Like your any different, your its colonie.

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  A man
June 9, 2022 12:30 am

You chastise him as an inbred, yet you can’t spell or even make a coherent sentence yourself 🙂

A man
A man
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 1:58 am

your retrarded, spungebob

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  A man
June 9, 2022 2:57 am

You’re

lurker
lurker
Reply to  Mike James
June 9, 2022 2:16 am

Charley – most likely son of Ld MtBatten, his son the freak of California most likely the son of James Hewitt. The Royals rarely ever produce offspring from actual partners and who knows that might be a deliberate atempt to avoid dodgy genes.
Having said that my mum was once a district nurse and she would come home and say a whole village were too-closely related.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  lurker
June 9, 2022 2:50 am

Does your mummy have a bearded clam? I see where you get it from then, pommy scum.

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 2:59 am

Nice impersonation, “A man.”

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:05 am

Nice impersonation bitch

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:12 am

My username saying that you’ll die alone. You took that as “impersonation”? Obviously you’re more intelligent than I thought ????

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:15 am

Figured. You impersonate everybody old lady.

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:21 am

As you are typing from an impersonated username. Your logic is blowing me, “A man”, or should I say “Butch Coolidge” or should I say all those usernames telling Dmt_Perception to “suck balls.” Probably even more.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:24 am

We know who you really are. Why are you bringing them up… Is there something you want to get off your impersonating chest?

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:26 am

Please stop making me laugh. Or better yet, try and hunt me down with your so-called “nazi friends”, like you keep bringing them up.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:18 am

Good one grammar nazi, get a life

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:20 am

Awww am I upsetting you?

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:28 am

Impersonating impersonators, you really are crazy aren’t you? Thought you were gone for good you crazy french bitch. I won’t blow your cover hehehe

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:29 am

Oh wow, you think I’m Matisse. Well done, dude. You make Sherlock Holmes look like Barney Fife 🙂

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:31 am

It’s funny, almost had me fooled ffs. Yep, welcome back you attention whore

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:35 am

It’s funny seeing how confused you are. You really are bringing me good laughs, mate 🙂

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:37 am

Did you take your meds today sweetheart? Good girl. Still want to fuck you though

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:40 am

Tell me, at what point did you lose your sanity since you started commenting on this site?

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:42 am

You honestly are the most craziest, attention seeking whore Matisse, either kill yourself or get a fucking life and gtfo of here for one and for all.

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:44 am

So, you lost your sanity since childbirth, you say? That makes a lot of sense.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:47 am

Matisse, you’re a slut and no one likes you so bye bye. Knew it wouldn’t be long til you reared your plastic head again

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:47 am

And your father left you while your mother never breastfed you? Oh my lord, that is terrible! Have a hug and a kiss from me.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:51 am

This is gold! You don’t stfu do ya Matisse lmfao. Came back to let me shove my dick in your pathetic mouth again huh? Psycho asf, I knew it

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 3:53 am

And as you grew up, you never made any real friends, so you spent most of your time in a dark room making imaginary ones? That is real heartbreaking. If you want, I can bake you some cookies for you to feel better 🙂

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:54 am

Lmfao! Says the craziest whore of them all

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 3:59 am

Still sucking on Zed’s cock? Bitch you dirty girl. Sad and super pathetic

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:00 am

And then your mother dumped you in an adoption home and told you that nobody will ever love you? Well, she’s a liar. I very much love you. We are two tortured souls in this wretched world. Let’s spread the love together!

lurker
lurker
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:07 am

I am intrigued. How can you know if a person on here is actually another person on here. What was it that helped you make the leap? Is it how they write? Is it the kind of abuse they aim at you? or…
Are you stalking such a hard-on for the person you vibrate when in close contact.

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  lurker
June 9, 2022 4:10 am

He’s just a confused moron.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  lurker
June 9, 2022 4:16 am

It’s obvious af. She plays the victim cos she’s so fucked in the head, but can’t keep away from being trolled. She’s addicted man, simple. This is a split personality trait.. she’s mentally smart but super dumb it’s madness!

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:18 am

Let it all out, dear. Let it all out.

Allie
Allie
Reply to  lurker
June 9, 2022 4:18 am

Her writing dip shit

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:19 am

I never knew Matisse wrote like this. I think I should start taking notes.

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:10 am

Given up?

The real man
The real man
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:21 am

I will hunt you tf down and give it to you bitch, you’re creaming to be tortured

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  The real man
June 9, 2022 4:23 am

Now you’re really making me laugh, kid XD

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:27 am

Why tf you playing? Ffs, we know you love it. Love the abuse with your magic vocab and fuckable mouth

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:30 am

Nah you just retarded, boy, and you keep giving me reasons to fuck with you.

The real man
The real man
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:23 am

Oh now you playing again? Fuck man, you really are the funniest psychotic messed up plastic bitch smh

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  The real man
June 9, 2022 4:27 am

Looks like “A man” couldn’t handle being a man anymore, so he turned into a woman called “Allie” but couldn’t handle being a woman either, so they transcended the universe and became the one, almighty, “The real man.”

Allie
Allie
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:31 am

Matisse you’re a fucking whore. Show us your tits loco

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  Allie
June 9, 2022 4:34 am

And thus the almighty has transformed back into Allie!

The real man
The real man
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:36 am

They don’t give a fuck about me bitch, we know it’s you! Hungry af for attention and to be humiliated lmfao

The real man
The real man
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:38 am

They gonna eat you alive you demented bitch

A man will die alone
A man will die alone
Reply to  The real man
June 9, 2022 4:44 am

Transformed again into “The real man”? What was wrong with impersonating “Allie”? Oh, I get it. It takes a person with brains.

Matisse Get A Life
Matisse Get A Life
Reply to  A man will die alone
June 9, 2022 4:51 am

………

Janson
Janson
Reply to  Matisse Get A Life
August 1, 2023 11:22 am

Thanks guys for taking up half the comments with your pathetic argument. Go blow eachother and end this romance already, we’re bored

iliketwitedshit
iliketwitedshit
December 27, 2020 10:18 pm

toms fucking annoying downer borderline seemsretarded yet noone ever brings it up?
i found the movie ok enoughot watch to the end and not egret it but overall suregood ating and the sodomy sister has nice teen tits to look at still meh 4/10 but thanks eum for a great site.i just like to b honest wth my feedback…each to there own etc

Mike Ehrmatraut
Mike Ehrmatraut
Reply to  iliketwitedshit
February 21, 2021 8:50 am

Holy shit, you’re so dumb you should be required by law to wear a helmet… and a drool cup.

Stick with the August Underground movies, kid… they’re definitely more your speed.

In the meantime, hush up and let the adults talk.

thegorejunkie
thegorejunkie
Reply to  iliketwitedshit
May 1, 2021 5:29 pm

Hello there! If you have a problem with a character that a storyteller has built try to look at your own life for once. You see, even with such a digital distance between you and me, I know that you as a character in your own life story is a fucking piss of a context, full of shit and filled to the brim with pretension. Yet, I can’t do anything about it. So, the moral of the story is that we might have our own reservations about other peoples’ art, but all we can do is fucking accept it for what it is and try to understand why they have chosen to portray it that way.

You know what i mean “iliketwitedshit”, ya know what, do lemme know about the “twited” shit you like, I wanna check some of it out sometime…

Ryan Morris
Ryan Morris
November 3, 2020 9:12 am

Beautifully executed. A realistic look at how one person destroys the lives of others and the way you see it manifest in the different people it effects. The reaction of each character was such a clinical response, it begs the question did the writer or director have personal experience with this type of trauma? This will be remembered as one of the most beautiful and powerful films I’ve ever watched.

Pamela
Pamela
August 5, 2020 12:19 am

Worth watching, the acting is good.

Mike Ehrmantraut
Mike Ehrmantraut
July 24, 2020 1:48 am

This is a brilliant film! So deep and yet incredibly simplistic…. Honey Bunny would be very proud.

Vincent Vega
Vincent Vega
Reply to  Mike Ehrmantraut
January 11, 2023 7:01 am

Chill Honey Bunny