The War Between: Review. By Joe Muldoon.
Somewhere in the scorching Sonoran Desert, two lone soldiers find themselves bound together by circumstance, but divided by allegiance. It’s April 1862, the American Civil War is in its infancy, and death is in the air. Corporate Israel (Damian Conrad-Davis) Terry fights for the Union, and Private Moses Jennings (Sam Bullington) fights for the Confederacy — in other words, they’re sworn enemies. And yet, stranded together in the desert, they have little choice but to cooperate, lest they fall victim to the sun, the land, and its inhabitants.
Equally discombobulated by his head wound and by the unfamiliar environment, Israel’s survival rests squarely within the hands of Moses, whose worldliness and familiarity with the Apache people and their language seems incongruous with his Confederate standing. Whilst their respective comrades are continuing the conflict with arms, the two wanderers’ conflict is one of wits and principle, clashing over abolitionism and Manifest Destiny.
Bickering, tussling, and debating below the gorgeously-shot rays of light and taking shelter beneath the cloak of nightfall, the tension leaves the men unsure whether they’d rather be left at loggerheads, or friends of convenience. Their more pressing goal is the same: to find sanctuary with their men in a distant military base. But will Moses be welcomed to a Confederate fort, or will Israel be met by the site of a Union garrison? Neither man knows, but each can only pray his companion’s desired outcome is unmet.
But it’s not just Moses and Israel whose fates remain up in the air; a Native named The Great Seer (Wayne Charles Baker) shoots his way into the soldiers’ strife, and soon joins them across the plains, having his own destiny to fulfill after having been exiled from his community. And it’s with the introduction of The Great Seer that Ron Yungul’s writing truly shines, a really interesting interplay between interpersonal empathy and duty. Each man has reason to distrust the other two, yet they seem to find it hard to hate them.
The decision to ground the events of The War Between beside The Battle of Picacho Peak is a subtle, but particularly clever one: the battle, which took place on 15th April 1862, marked the westernmost fatality-carrying battle of the American Civil War. By choosing to mark the trio’s fateful meeting so far west, we’re shown just how far the war truly stretched and how many noncombatants found their doorsteps adorned with the banners of a war in which they wanted no part.
In a genre soaked with (admittedly deliciously) dramatic gun-slinging, bust-ups, and high-thrill action, The War Between is a pleasant sidestep, a slowing-down of the Western’s cowboy chaos, and a focus on the human bond. Director Deborah Correa sought to challenge divisions and conflicts with the characters’ capacity for empathy, and by all accounts, mission accomplished. But more than that, The War Between is a fresh perspective on the true, hidden, oft-forgotten cost of the American Civil War, a tribute to those who —literally and figuratively— found themselves in the crossfire.
By Joe Muldoon
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