What did you think of "The War Zone"?   Good 48% 59   Bad 15% 18   Somewhere in between 28% 35   Haven't seen it 10% 12 Total Votes   124

Grade: A-

Verdict: D-Day, family style.

Details: Starring Ray Winstone and Tilda Swinton. Directed by Tim Roth. Not rated, but there is specific sexual abuse, nudity, violence and coarse language. 1 hour, 38 minutes.

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Review: "The War Zone" is the most Bergman-esque movie to come out since the great Ingmar Bergman stopped making movies. Actor-turned-director Tim Roth ("Pulp Fiction") shares the reclusive Scandinavian master's fondness for complex, painful topics, remote, desolate landscapes and bruisingly emotional close-ups.

The film is set on the barren Devon coast of England, where it seems always to be a dark and stormy night (or a dark and stormy afternoon or a dark and stormy morning). The constant chill, however, momentarily disappears when we enter a semi-quaint cottage isolated above the crashing waves. Inside, Mum (Tilda Swinton) — hugely, placidly pregnant — is sitting around with her peevish, big-eyed teenage daughter, Jessie (Lara Belmont), and Jessie's peevish, acne-ridden younger brother, Tom (Freddie Cunliffe). From another room comes a scuffling sound, like a large animal rooting around garbage. It's Dad (Ray Winstone), the sort of bluff, beefy average Joe you expect to see at a soccer match.

A normal enough family tableau, you might think. You'd be wrong. Tom (as in peeping?) has come to suspect that his father is having sex with his sister. The evidence builds with beguiling ambiguity. Is Tom right, or is it just his own raging adolescent hormones fixated on his flirtatious sister? Alas, one wrenching, almost-impossible-to-watch scene tells the truth.

Winstone, who did Bad Male Duty so effectively in Gary Oldman's "Nil by Mouth," is monstrously credible. So is Swinton, in a role that calls for her almost to sleepwalk through much of the movie. But much praise must go to Belmont and Cunliffe, both making their feature debuts. And to Roth, who uses their inexperience to bring out their fearlessness and vulnerability.

"The War Zone" shows how secrets and lies can lead to a family's collective nervous breakdown. Challenging and disturbing, it asks its audience to take a risky journey. If you're in the mood for Adam Sandler, best look elsewhere.

— Eleanor Ringel, Cox News Service

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