Doug Liman's THE WALL: an endurance test but perfect stand-in for our middle-east wars

To be honest, TrustMovies was bored bigtime through much of the new film, THE WALL, written by Dwain Worrell and directed by Doug Liman. And why not? The movie is mostly about two lone U.S. soldiers amidst a passel of dead bodies (other soldiers and contractors involved in one of the USA's current middle-east idiocies) who've been killed by a quite expert sniper -- who may or may not still be pointing his rifle at our two remaining guys. We quickly learn that indeed he is, as one soldier is wounded on the ground and the other high-tails it to shelter behind that small and crumbling wall of the title. And that's mostly it -- regarding, until the grand finale, any real visual action or change.

That sniper, whom we never see but merely hear his voice (offered up with award-caliber nuance by Laith Nakli), leads that grunt behind the wall (Aaron Taylor-Johnson, below) backward, forward and every which way, as he mocks, cajoles, threatens, surprises and bedevils that poor soldier -- having already wounded, maybe killed his counterpart (John Cena), who lies stone still on the ground on the other side of that wall.

Mr. Liman, pictured left, has shown his moviemaking skills numerous times, most especially via Go and The Bourne Identity and to some extent with later efforts like Fair Game and Edge of Tomorrow. I suspect that he, even more than many movie directors, is immensely helped along by the often very good writers involved in his projects. Here, that writer is Mr. Worrell, who intentionally or not, has given us an almost perfect movie metaphor for America's ever-present and increasingly worsening involvement in the middle east.

The America we see via The Wall  -- both individually and as a country -- is stupid in the extreme, possessing little sense of history, morality or even political intelligence. And if you bridle at this description, consider how that sniper is able to control the actions of our would-be heroes, over and over again, until.... well, you'll find out.

Little wonder U.S. meddling in this oil-rich part of the globe brought about, first, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism (after our deposing of a democratically-elected leader and our placement of the corrupt and totalitarian Shaw in his place), and then, post-9/11, our further attacks on Afghanistan and then Iraq helping lead to the rise of the Taliban and now ISIS. We're being led around by the nose by the very folk we supposedly want to help/conquer. But by now, our noses must have either been anesthetized into non-feeling, or perhaps what's going on somehow feels "right" -- simply because it's been going on for so very long now.

Visually, The Wall is mostly Mr. Taylor-Johnson, and while I have appreciated his work in movies from Nowhere Boy to Kick Ass and beyond, there is not so much the actor is able to do with this role, as he ends up consistently playing second fiddle to that creamy, duplicitous voice. Mr. Cena, above, has a fun scene at film's beginning, shaking his booty, but then is reduced to something approaching corpse.

Once their soldier is stuck behind that wall, writer and filmmaker try their best to provide some variation but are consistently stymied by their situation and their lack of character, let alone any character development. Compare this film to Steven Knight's Locke, which confines a single character to the interior of a car on a long drive, during which whole worlds unfold and change in the course of some 90 minutes.

And yet: As tiresome as I found the film as it moved slowly along, I have not been able to get it out of my mind, post-viewing. Everything about it, from the soldiers' action at the beginning to the dark but absolutely unsurprising conclusion, is perfectly calibrated to indict America's behavior in the middle-east. No outside nation in history has yet been able to successfully conquer this area. So we will? Talk about hubris.

You may very well come away from The Wall admiring most the cleverness, not to mention the sheer energy, wit and provocation of the antagonist and his marvelous voice. Against which, over and over again, our poor Americans are simply no match. As continues to happen historically, as supposed "wins" become in reality losses, we are consistently outmatched by something we have not understood and evidently do not even wish to understand.

You can certainly view this film as simply a wartime thriller/confined-space movie, and as such it works predictably, if reasonably well. If you care to dig a tad deeper, however, prepare to be very depressed.

From Roadside Attractions via Amazon Studios and running a thankfully short 82 minutes, the movie opens everywhere tomorrow, Friday, May 12. Here in South Florida, you can find it in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale area at the Aventura Mall 24, the Paradise 24 in Davie, the South Beach 18 in Miami Beach, the Kendall Village Stadium 16, the Sunset Place 24 in Miami; in Palm Beach County at the Cinemark Palace 20 in Boca Raton, and the City Place 20 in West Palm Beach. Elsewhere in the state or country? Click here (then click on GET TICKETS) to find the theater nearest you.

Stream Julian Pölsler's adaptation of Haushofer's THE WALL for a movie experience like few others

Here's a movie unusual in a number of ways, all of them for the better. It takes an "other-worldly event" -- an invisible but quite solid wall suddenly appears and separates portions of our world (in this case, in Austria) allowing life to continue on one side, while appearing to end it on the other -- and turns this into a kind of existential meditation on existence and the point of it all. Made in 2012, the movie's premise was used the following year in a rather typical television show (based on a Stephen King novel), Under the Dome, with predictably tiresome results. However, THE WALL, adapted and directed by Julian Pölsler (shown below) from the novel by Marlen Haushofer, is the real thing: thoughtful, intelligent, surprising and riveting.

In the movie, our heroine (whoops -- there goes most of the U.S. male audience), beautifully played by German actress Martina Gedeck, is taking a holiday in the country with elderly friends. They leave her with the care of the family dog, as they drive for a brief visit to a nearby town to get supplies and -- that's the last we (and she) ever see of them. When she goes out to investigate, she encounters the invisible wall, here, there, in various spots. This makes no sense. But it is here. Why? For how long? Who placed it? To what purpose? These are questions that soon become pointless to ask or even waste time worrying over.

While watching the film, my spouse wanted answers and grew a bit angry, both because these were not provided and because our heroine, shown above and below, and known only as Woman, doesn't try to do more to find these answers. But why should she, I wonder? Answering these questions turns out to have little to do with her survival and more to do with what we Americans expect of our movies and storytelling.

I also wonder if this insistence on answers has to do with my spouse and I being male, and "Woman" being a woman. I would not exactly call The Wall a feminist film, but then again, why not? Is it possible that women are more adaptable, more quickly able to see the complete picture and to understand what is necessary to accomplish? Perhaps. That is certainly the way things work out here. (The final and most major event of the film would also bear out this reading.)

Woman bonds first with the dog, and then with other animals she encounters, and over time creates and continues to provide a decent life for this small menagerie. She plants, seasons change, she harvests, all the while keeping a kind of journal of the experience (in its way, the movie becomes that journal).

She moves from the original wood cottage to another abode overlooking the valley below. Events happen -- middling to minor, one quite major -- and on she goes, a kind of Ms Robinson Crusoe, in a strange new world.

The beauty of place is near staggering here, partly, of course, because of gorgeous Austrian countryside and mountains, and also because of this strangeness. You'll ask yourself, what you would do under similar circumstances, then quickly answer" the same" -- if, that is, you were as quick and smart and tenacious as our gal.

The film's ending questions the possibility of her life continuing. Given who she is, I would bet on her survival, for awhile longer, at least. In any case, her life so far has been an amazement that I would not have wanted, under any circumstance, to miss.

The Wall, from Music Box Films, is available to stream in high definition now via Netflix, Amazon Instant Video, and elsewhere -- and is also for sale on DVD.