MILITIA
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Hey friends. Barbarella here, and I cannot stop thinking about MILITIA, a film that recently released on VOD and DVD. Written and directed by Dylan King Welter, MILITIA takes viewers into the heartland to tell the story of a teenager on the verge of adulthood. He wants nothing more than to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the local militia.
In this rural world, family, faith, and firearms rule the day, and the law is seen as a nuisance, particularly when a new, somewhat idealistic sheriff enters the picture. His desire to take a different, more proactive approach from the previous sheriff leads to conflict between the authorities and the militia and its community.
While many aspects of this film deserve praise, one that has the biggest impact on me is how the story is just allowed to unfold. There is no clear perspective in the presentation of this, almost as though the writer didn’t have an opinion on militias or the government. Rather, the characters just move through their lives: a father teaches his son about hunting and guns, a mother reinforces the ideals of the militia as she homeschools her boy, and the kids play war games to prepare themselves for the possibility of fighting for their beliefs. It proves fascinating, watching the story illuminate how a young man and his friends internalize the messages they’ve been hearing their whole lives and how that dictates their decisions and ultimately their actions.
The movie never preaches, condemns, or flattens its characters
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