Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

The War Zone
1999

Director: Tim Roth
Cast: Ray Winstone, Tilda Swinton, Lara Belmont, Freddie Cunliffe

Tim Roth's directorial debut, which deals with incest and child abuse in a working class English family, is so utterly depressing, mindnumbingly dull and ridiculously self-important that the film becomes almost unwatchable. There's an endless number of endless shots where the characters walk in the landscape or sit inside the house and stare at the ceiling. These people deserve everything that's coming to them. Adapted from Alexander Stuart's novel.