Review: Triage AKA Shellshock

Triage tells the story of photojournalist, Mark Walsh (Colin Farrell), returning from Kurdistan in 1988 and coping with horror that he witnessed there.

Director Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land) presents this powerful drama about shellshock, and shows the true horrors of war. Unfortunately, the film has been given a DTV release in the UK, which means it’s unlikely to get widely seen – sad, given it’s excellent anti-war message. Triage is at points heart-wrenchingly sad and other points chilling.

The film opens in Kurdistan and soon moves to London as Walsh returns home. The scenes of conflict in Kurdistan are shocking and represent the horrifying warzone conditions there excellently. These scenes are created with stunning cinematography from Seamus Deasy. Farrell’s performance is one of the finest I’ve seen from him, showing what horrors conflict can bring on people and how it can cause them to deteriorate. You only need to see the scenes of Farrell in the bath to see the amount of weight he’s lost for the role. His physical condition adds to the idea of deteriorating effects of war. Farrell is supported by the excellent Christopher Lee who plays an elderly Spanish psychologist who helps Walsh get over his shell shock. Lee’s performance which was a nice change from his usual 1 minute cameos that he’s been cast in recently, is one of the film’s main roles and shows that Lee’s acting has only gotten better with age. There’s also an interesting hints of Lee’s character helping war criminals in the Spanish Civil War and how his grand-daughter despises this.

Triage is certainly worth a watch (Shellshock is the name of the R2 DVD) with a powerful message, beautifully directed by Tanovic, with strong performances from Farrell and Lee – and a compelling anti-war argument.