Journalists that go to war zones have always amazed me. It takes a lot of courage to voluntarily put yourself in harm’s way to accurately tell a story to strangers, especially considering the trauma a war can cause to someone once they come back home.

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot told one of those stories a couple of years ago, with Tina Fey playing Kim Baker. That was an interesting movie to watch and learn about the journalists that cover wars in the Middle East. It was not nearly as intense, however, as A Private War.

Based on the Vanity Fair article “Marie Colvin’s Private War” by Marie Brenner, A Private War follows the story of Marie Colvin (Rosamund Pike), a journalist from The Sunday Times that covered war zones for over many years. In one of her assignments, she was hit and lost sight in her left eye, which made her wear an eye-patch that distinguished her from the crowd.

The audience can witness her determination to go after the stories, as well as the impact it evidently has on her life. Not only does she become an alcoholic, but she also gets addicted to the adrenaline she gets every time she is on the field. Her struggles feel even more real thanks largely to Rosamund Pike’s striking performance – possibly her best performance so far.

The photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) joins Marie in most of the trips and sees the effect those wars have on her. One of the best scenes of the movie is precisely between the two of them, when Paul visits Marie while she tries to recover from her addictions and has a beautiful monologue about fearing getting old but also dreading dying young.

Directed by Matthew Heineman and with Stanley Tucci and Tom Hollander also in the cast, A Private War is a timely reminder of just how important good and serious journalism is and the impact it can have in the world.

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