‘Atropia’ Review: Alia Shawkat & Callum Turner Play War Games In Absurdist Bush-Era Satire — Sundance Film Festival
deadline.comIn writer-director Hailey Gates‘ directorial debut, she dives into the Bush-era culture of toxic masculinity, nationalism and Islamaphobia with an amusing and profoundly absurdist sense of satire.
Set in 2006, Atropia takes place at the titular U.S. military training ground in the California desert, where actors role-play as villagers in countries where the government plans to invade.
Alia Shawkat stars as Fayruz, an ambitious actress determined to make her big break in Hollywood while working in the simulation, despite her conflicting feelings about the war in Iraq.
Although her parents accuse her of betraying her culture as they disapprove of her preparing soldiers to invade their country, the training ground is the only place casting her type (not a surprise for that era of Hollywood).
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