A24’s Warfare may be one of the most realistic films about the military ever produced, which is something Alex Garland and his co-director (a Navy SEAL veteran) Ray Mendoza revealed was central to the premise during a Q&A event for the film. Based on the real-life experiences and memories of a US Navy SEAL platoon that was caught under fire and pinned down during the US occupation of Iraq in 2006, Warfare is a phenomenally constructed movie that benefits greatly from a painfully real sense of realism.

It’s a film uninterested in lionizing or condemning soldiers, instead showing them as real people under duress and working together to survive an intense scenario. ScreenRant attended a screening and Q&A for Warfare, where Mendoza and Garland, cast members D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai and Charles Melton, and Mendoza’s fellow veterans Joe Hildebrand, Elliot Miller, and Jeff Craft spoke with Karen Kraft of Veterans in Media and Entertainment about their experience making and seeing the film.

Seeing The Military On The Big Screen Is Central To Warfare

“This Story Is So Important”

Warfare‘s realistic approach to recreating war-time situations is clear from the onset, with moments of humanity peeking out amid the slow burn build to an intense battle with insurgent fighters. Reflecting on his path from the military to the entertainment industry, Mendoza recalled how the Navy SEALs had been making a concentrated effort to raise recruitment in part through film portrayals of military service, something he worked within. This was the impetus for Mendoza to look further into filmmaking.

While attending film school, he conceived of what would eventually become Warfare and debated directing it as a thesis film. Instead, he held off and got the chance to later collaborate on it with Alex Garland after he met Garland while working on Civil War. “This story is so important,” Mendoza explained, citing his time working with fellow Navy SEAL/Director of the Warrior Heritage Foundation Justin Garza and the importance of veterans getting to tell their stories.

When I first got out of the military, there was a lot going on. I didn’t understand how to describe it. I didn’t have the vocabulary or the verbiage to convey it. I had to first understand what was physically going on, and then just kind of emotionally, spiritually, trying to figure out how to communicate. After years of therapy and having friends who helped me out a lot, both vets and non-vets, I started to learn more about filmmaking.

A major aspect of this recreation was attempting to recreate the chaotic nature of firefights in wartime situations. For Mendoza, telling this story film meant that “even if you were to take five seconds in time, you can even stretch that five seconds in time out and get it through the specifics of it, the texture of it. If you’ve been in a firefight, you understand. It’s confusion, especially at first. So then you have to ask yourself, ‘Well, how do I convey confusion in a firefight?‘

The next step in the firefight is figuring out where the fire is coming from and then addressing that. What does that sound like once you do identify where the fire is coming from? Every aspect of this film, every snap, every round, has a purpose. I just didn’t just throw it in there. When there’s a snap, it’s very directional… One day I wanted to do my own film and be responsible for all those things, for those elements, and how to convey those little things. This way, it can be a voice for somebody.

Being There That Day (And Seeing It Recreated) For Warfare

“That Is A True, Quiet, Professional SEAL”

One of the big central inspirations behind Warfare is a commitment to believable recreation of the actual combat situations. Warfare is based on the memories of Ray Mendoza and the rest of his Navy SEALs platoon during a mission through insurgent Iraqi territory in 2006. Some of the veterans of that day, including Navy SEALs Joe Hildebrand and Elliott Miller as well as Army infinitary soldier Jeff Craft, were also present during the Q&A. Hildebrand, whose Warefare equivalent is played by Joseph Quinn, recalled that the mission seen in the film was his second platoon together with Mendoza and Miller. “It’s quite an honor to see a movie made and made so accurately.“

Reflecting on his experience visiting the film’s set in London, Hildebrand recalled how “when I walked into the house, it was a very surreal moment. That house was identical to the house that we’d been sitting in almost 20 years ago when this happened. 20 years, memories start to fade.” One of the things that didn’t fade was Hildebrand’s appreciation and love for Mendoza, as he recalled being injured in the line of duty only for his fellow SEAL to save his life.

“Ray was a comms guy,” Hildebrand explained. “He was a communicator SEAL. He was not a medic. But I remember laying there looking at Ray, thinking, ‘There’s no way I’m going to die.’ I knew for a fact Ray was going to say my life, and he did. To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve ever really told him how much I appreciate him saving my life. But I really do, and for Ray to direct a movie and not embellish his character is unbelievable to me. That is a true, quiet, professional SEAL, and it’s remarkable.”

Craft only learned about the film when he saw the trailer for the movie, eventually realizing the connection to Mendoza after he researched the director online. Reaching out to Mendoza to inquire about providing ᴀssistance in listing the wounded in the combat situations, Craft instead got a prompt message from Mendoza that thanked him for his role in extracting the platoon before inviting him to take part in events like the Q&A.

When Craft tried to downplay the role he and the other tank drivers played in the extraction, Mendoza revealed “I wish we could have told that story. Because we talk about you guys all the time. We really do. You guys were always there. There were other missions on that deployment too. You guys always answered the call. We’re a small component of the military, and I can’t say it enough. Thank you.”

Miller, who was also seriously injured in the real event and who Warfare is dedicated to, spoke with the aid of an AAC device, telling Mendoza and the ᴀssembled audience that “I think that I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for making this movie and dedicating it to me. I like you a lot, but I’m not a talker.”

Acting As Soldiers In Warfare Is Its Own Challenge

“It’s Rare As An Actor To Be Part Of Something You Know Changes Your Life For The Good”

The cast to Warfare includes some of Hollywood’s biggest current stars. Two of them, Charles Melton and D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, were present at the Q&A and spoke about their experience making the movie. Melton, who is the son of a veteran, recalled how “I think this story just required complete commitment and trust in Alex and Ray.” After they made it through a three-week boot-camp, Melton explained how the actors relied on a “methodology that Ray and Alex created. It helped inform our roles… we learned how to move like the SEALs do, we learned the terminology, military tactics, and comms.

“We all got buzz cuts. Ray said that it was a symbolic expression of starting at ground zero, which is pretty rare when you come onto a film set as an actor,” Melton continued. “I think it’s rare as an actor, when you’re a part of something that you know changes your life for the good. It changes your perspective on a lot of different things. I think I grew a lot as an individual and became a better person because of the guys that were a part of this, and the vets and Alex and Ray.”

Pharoah, who played the cinematic version of director Ray Mendoza in Warfare, was clearly touched by the expeirnece as well. “I really built a brotherhood with these guys in the very short span of a few months. It was only like three months, and we got matching tattoos, which really should show you our love for each other is.” Pharoah noted that he was honored to play someone like Ray, and paid tribute to the men and women who went through the full process of joining the military.

The Co-Writing Process For Warfare, Explained

“I Learned A Lot, And I’m Very Grateful”

Alex Garland, who co-directed Warfare, was already familiar with exploring combat for 2023’s Civil War. It was on that film that he met Mendoza, who Garland described as being “incredibly good at his job. He’s a super fast learner. He’s an incredible teacher. One of the things I saw while we were making [Warfare] was how he was teaching these guys how to do their job. Not just how to handle weapons, but how to act, how to inhabit something.”

“It was really fascinating. If I had teachers like that at school, my whole life would have been different.” Citing how much of Warfare is driven by Mendoza’s pᴀssion to have this story told, Garland explained that “in a way, [Warfare] is the product of his honesty. That’s why it represents something in the way it does. It’s unfiltered and it’s unflinching and it’s just truthful.” Recreating that story accurately came with some tricky elements, such as recreating the building for the set.

“We had a handful of pH๏τographs that we got all above the building. But aside from that, it was just interviews. It began with Ray and I sitting for a week, and Ray just unloading everything he could remember. Then we spoke to as many people as we could.” After apologizing to Craft for not getting the chance to speak with him too, Garland noted how “the film is based on memory, but memory is a complicated thing. It is not like video, it is not like pH๏τographs.

It is hugely affected just by time pᴀssing; it’s affected by stress, it’s affected by trauma, and by concussion and so on. There are many layers of reasons why memory was complex to work with, but it was also all we had. So this is the story. We have a handful of pH๏τos, and we have eyewitness accounts, and it begins talking by talking to Ray, and then we slowly, one by one, we add another person, another person, another person.

If, for some reason, someone had stuck GoPros all over and this incident had been recorded, it would not be exactly the same as this. There would be discrepancies, because that is the nature of memory. We knew that. But what we could be as faithful to as possible was the memory. That was the way we approached it.” Garland noted that “as a civilian, we hear about the military, and we sort of sometimes think we understand the military. We don’t… it was an honor, it was a privilege. I learned a lot [on Warfare, and I’m very grateful.