I DECLARE WAR – Fantastic Fest Review

If you’re school was anything like mine growing up, you may have been assigned to read William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, but if not, maybe you’ve seen one of two film adaptations that have been made. This serves as a jumping off point for better understanding I DECLARE WAR. No, this isn’t another remake of LORD OF THE FLIES, but it does share some of the classic thematic content. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s all right. It’s far from mandatory for enjoying this hidden gem.

Written by Jason Lapeyre and co-directed with Robert Wilson, I DECLARE WAR tackles the darker heart of what happens when innocent fun evolves into real-life danger. I can imagine the contemporary societal obsession with video games and the abundance of violence prevalent in these games as having an inspiration, but are the video games really the focal point? I think not. With the world we live in becoming increasingly violent and the access to real-time, uncensored live media not slowing, it could be read as commentary on what led these children to the film’s climax. Even this, as logical as it sounds, I don’t believe is at the heart of the film.

I DECLARE WAR follows a group of pre-teen aged kids in the midst of war. Not a “real war” — although an argument could be made that it becomes just that — but a “war game.” Here we have two opposing forces, in this case a band of 5-6 kids on either side, both led by their respective generals. For the group of kids through whose perspective the story is being told, the general is PK, played by Gage Munroe. If this kid looks familiar, you may have seen him in IMMORTALS (2011) on on the TV series ALPHAS. However, Munroe also has one of those faces that encourages a sense of deja vu, while his talent is impressive for delivering sophisticated lines of military dialogue with accuracy and conviction while still allowing the viewer to believe he’s just a kid.

As PK leads his troops through the local woods in search of the enemy’s base, which of course holds the all-important “flag,” they get ambushed by Skinner, played by Michael Friend. Skinner is not the opposing general, but rather one of his ranks gone rogue. Skinner and his small band of soldiers of fortune take PK’s best friend Kwon (Siam Yu) prisoner with the intent of getting him to talk, revealing the location of his base and therefor securing victory over the yet-to-be-defeated General PK.

Quinn (Aidan Gouveia), the general challenging PK’s undefeated status, desires to best him at his own game, proving he has the military mustard. Unfortunately, Skinner proves to be an obstacle that destroys Quinn’s hopes and threatens more than the fate of a game for Kwon and PK. When the game begins to unravel, the reality of childhood emotions begin to take over. Fear, paranoia, envy and anger become the driving force in a battle that turns ugly, pitting wits against rage. Meanwhile, Jess (McKenzie Munroe) becomes a wild card that could turn the tables of this war either direction with her cunning tactics driven by love.

I DECLARE WAR works so well, not just for the talent of its young cast, but because the filmmakers chose to make a family-friendly — that is, with parental guidance — film that takes on such a subject, but did so without dumbing it down or lightening it up. This is a rather dark, but realistically portrayed story of a series of events that I can absolutely see occurring in real life. No real guns are ever used by the characters, but their imaginations are depicted in such a way that the viewer is transported into their minds, allowing us to perceive the sticks and other various objects thrown together to vaguely resemble a gun, with creativity filling in the details.

While the film clearly focuses on children, I DECLARE WAR could also be considered a commentary on adults. Everything that occurs in this film, occurs between adults in real life. Simply change the setting and what’s at stake, and you have the rat race, etc. The film actually paints a pretty vivid portrait of a society that, for the most part, never truly grows up emotionally. We may think we do, but in most cases we just give these conflicts grown up names to make ourselves feel better. Food for thought.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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