5 Days of War

What happens when a renowned director of action movies portrays a real-life conflict? Until last year, the Finnish filmmaker Renny Harlin was best known for films with sensational themes. He had directed Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2, hung Sylvester Stallone from a great height in Cliffhanger and predated the current pirate craze with Cutthroat Island. But now Harlin, whose film before this was 12 Rounds, starring the American wrestler John Cena, is behind a different type of action film, one that draws on a very real conflict. 5 Days of War - also known as 5 Days of August in some countries - stars Rupert Friend as Thomas Anders, an American war journalist whose life is saved in Iraq by a Georgian soldier. Later, Anders goes to Georgia to cover the hostilities that erupted in 2008 between the former Soviet republic and its Russian neighbour. However, when he is caught in the crossfire as the conflict worsens, it becomes clear that his desire to report what's going on has now become a fight for survival. Joining Friend in the cast is Andy Garcia, who portrays the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili. The film's cast is littered with well-regarded actors: Friend, the rising British star of films such as The Young Victoria and The Kid; the veteran Hollywood actor Val Kilmer; and Garcia. With many early reviews praising Garcia's performance, Harlin points out a curious moment of serendipity in the casting process. "It was funny with Andy," the director recalls with a smile. "He not only looks like the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili, he also happens to be his favourite actor." "I heard about that," Garcia confirms. "I would hope that my casting was based on more than that, but it's nice to hear, going into a project." Indeed, Harlin is full of praise for the American actor, who adds another side to his already diverse career, which has seen him act in films such as The Godfather 3 and The Untouchables. "We cast Andy because he's a great actor, I always wanted him for that part," Harlin explains. "With all of the cast, I knew whom I wanted, and I think we got everyone. I didn't want a huge star, or someone who would distract from the material; I wanted actors who could bring these roles to life and make it believable to an audience that this really happened. I think we found those actors, and I think it shows when you see the film that it doesn't feel fake. The emotion is there on the screen." Garcia drew on the emotion of the real conflict to inform his performance. "It was difficult not to feel moved by what happened, but that made it easier to find the character and find the performance," the actor explains. As with any film set in a real conflict, there is the obvious problem of dealing with potential bias in the way the story is told. From the beginning, this was always a concern of the director's. "Of course, I was concerned in some respects. Whenever you portray real-life events there are people who will accuse you of taking sides, of making one party the 'heroes' and the other the 'villains'. As an artist, and as a human being, you also have a point of view, so what we did was try to make a movie based on the facts." One could argue that "facts" can be just as unreliable as opinion, given the adage that history is written by the victors. "Our film draws on facts published on UN and EU websites, which anyone can access for themselves," he insists, "but there will always be people who dispute certain points, that is art and that is life, and sometimes it's difficult to seek the truth when so many different versions of what happened exist." So, why make the film when there is that minefield of ill-feeling and biased testimony? "What drove me on was the passion I felt for the project, after visiting the place, feeling what these people had been through, it became an important project for me, because the world didn't care very much. These people were crying out for help and not many people listened."