5 Days of War

Plot

In 2007, during the Iraq War, a Georgian contingent of the coalition forces saves the life of American reporter Thomas Anders (Rupert Friend), although one of his colleagues (Heather Graham) is killed in the process. One year later, in 2008, he returns to Los Angeles, California but soon goes to Georgia on the advice of some of his friends in Tbilisi, who suspect that a large conflict is brewing. He, along with his cameraman Sebastian Ganz (Richard Coyle), delve deeper into Georgian life as conflict escalates and they get caught in the crossfire when an air raid strikes a local wedding they stumble upon. With members of the wedding party (Emmanuelle Chriqui), and the help of a Georgian soldier (Johnathon Schaech) who had earlier saved them in Iraq, their mission becomes getting their footage of an atrocity by Russian irregulars out of the country. But they find themselves faced with international apathy due to the opening of the 2008 Olympic Games. Their flight leads them to the Battle of Gori.

The film ends with a long series of testimonials from Georgian citizens who lost family members during the conflict.

Cast

Production

Filming started in October 2009, in Tbilisi. Filming took 36 days with a budget of 12 million dollars.

According to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, the film was not financed by the Georgian government; however one of the producers, David Imedashvili, said that the initial funding for the project came from a Georgian government fund. According to Georgian media the movie was financed by Koba Nakopia, a parliamentarian from the ruling United National Movement party of Saakashvili. Also credited as producer are director Renny Harlin, George Lascu and Mirza Davitaia, the current Georgian State Minister for "diaspora issues", who at the time of filming was the Georgian Deputy Minister, Ministry of Culture, Monument Protection and Sports.

One of the buildings of the Georgian Presidential administration was used for filming parts of the movie. Some members of the special effects team were Russian and had previously worked on Night Watch. The military equipment and personnel used in the film were lent by the Georgian army.

Premiere

Theatrical release

Reception

5 Days of War has received generally mixed to negative reviews from critics. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 33% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 33 reviews. Metacritic gives the film score 31/100 based on reviews from 14 critics. It has been poorly received by other film critics, with Bloomberg and Washington Post both giving it a one-star rating.

5 Days of War opened in limited release in the United States on August 19, 2011 in two theatres in New York City and Washington D.C. It grossed $6,254 in its opening weekend.

Home media

5 Days of War was released on DVD (Region 2) and Blu-ray (Region B) on 13 June 2011. The DVD is a one-disc set. The Blu-ray is a one-disc set that includes DTS-HD 5.1 sound, as well as subtitles, in English, German and French.