A Private War

Although it’s a biopic about Marie Colvin, A Private War also is a heartfelt salute to countless other journalists like her.

Adding a layer of topicality during a time when the press in general is maligned more than ever, this harrowing drama — galvanized by Rosamund Pike’s performance — conveys the dangers facing war correspondents on the front lines with unsettling intimacy.

The story roughly spans a decade, following Marie as she reports on a freelance basis for various publications from conflicts around the globe. Although she’s American, most of her work appears in The Sunday Times in London.

Our first glimpse into her work comes in 2001, when Marie loses an eye during an ambush in Sri Lanka, causing her to reluctantly don an eyepatch. Even if the film only spotlights snippets of her writing, her awards reveal her talent. As her editor (Tom Hollander) gushes: “You have a God-given talent to make people care.”

Later, her perilous work and troubled personal life begin to take their toll as Marie is embedded with the troops in Fallujah and nabs a one-on-one interview with Libyan dictator Muammar Qadhafi, usually with acclaimed photographer Paul Conroy (Jamie Dornan) at her side.

Marie’s external toughness masks an internal vulnerability, and that’s where Pike (Gone Girl) really excels — during quieter scenes when Marie confronts her injuries and insecurities, and even her mortality, usually relying on a cycle of alcohol and cigarettes as a coping mechanism. Remarkably, she never compromises her objectivity or her way with words.

The narrative debut of documentary filmmaker Matthew Heineman (City of Ghosts) often packs an emotional punch, even it lacks the gritty authenticity of his nonfiction efforts.

Like its protagonist, the film struggles to escape the grimness of its subject matter, and it’s missing broader sociopolitical context, although that might be intentional as a method of showing how the daily grind of combat can cause those on the ground to lose touch with the outside world.

Eventually, we’re able to see what motivates Marie to keep going amid her psychological downward spiral. The film’s extended climactic sequence, set in Syria, is an exhilarating yet heartbreaking chronicle of a different type of wartime bravery and sacrifice. Fortunately, her legacy endures.

Rated R, 106 minutes.