#MoviesRevisited Triage (2009)

cast: Colin Farrell, Paz Vega, Christopher Lee, Kelly Reilly, Branko Djuric, Jamie Sives

directed by: Danis Tanović

Joaquín Morales: The world is a very complex place. There is very little of it that is black and white.

I feel the need to state it in public, that I consider Colin Farrell one of the most under-rated actors of his generation, who had one Hell of a rise to stardom and fall from grace only to come back and work his way through independent flicks and avoiding big-budget productions. Seriously, I’m sound of mind and at this hour I can preach to whomever wants to listen that Farrell is one actor who deserves more consideration than he’s getting. But let’s get back to a little tiny movie called “Triage”.

We’re back in 2009, five years from the climax of Farrell’s rise to the top. After a couple blockbuster movies – some well received by the public, some trashed by the critics like there was no second coming – Farrell played the movie field with a series of low key, indie movies. Here comes “Triage”.

A flick inspired by the novel of war correspondent, Scott Anderson set in 1988. Mark ( Farrell) and David (Sives) leave for the Kurd region on an assignment. To cover through their photos the horrors of war. There’s a nice touch of presenting the attitude of the characters through the photos they take. Mark is in the hardcore business, taking photographs of badly injured soldiers, blood and guts and a doctor who practices euthanasia because he doesn’t have any medicines or conditions to help the badly wounded. David tries to focus on what’s left of humanity. Everything turns up side down when Mark is injured during an attack and David goes missing.

Mark goes back home but begins to experience the fall out and trauma of those who have seen the most horrifying acts made by humans. Between his cocky attitude and sensation of being under severe depression lies the truth of what really happened with David.

Now don’t worry if this movie comes like a wtf piece for you. It’s one of the many movies that came and went and got lost under the radar of bigger productions and pretentious on screen flicks.

Among the stars of “Triage”, there’s one amazing Sir Christopher Lee as a psychoanalyst, specialized in treating the military patients and who has a dark past, recalled with no mercy by his grand-daughter played by Paz Vega. There’s a good chemistry between Lee’s character and Farrell’s. The patience of Morales contrasts with Mark’s viciousness and sarcasm only to bring forth the real damage Mark was went through.

The moment of revelation is something one can expect and image through the movie but when the truth comes out it makes one cringe. Colin Farrell shines in what is clearly his comfort zone of anti-heroes. He does them justice with unbridled wits and sass and gets the pain. He works with the inner turmoil and brings it out with little effort. For some actors that’s the hard part, for Farrell is the regular walk in the park he likes to take. It’s powerful, it’s intense and again it brings the big question, why this actor is used so little now when he can do so much?

“Triage” is a human drama with a great cast – Djuric deserves a praise for making a compelling character, traumatized by the world he lives in and his incapacity to do more, having to struggle with an unforgiving system of picking the ones who have a chance to live and forfeit the fate of the badly injured.

“Triage” is an under-rated movie, little known about, who deserves to be brought back to our attention.