The War Zone

Tim Roth's directorial debut of Alexander Stuart's award-winning novel The War Zone is a powerful tale of incest within a London family failing to adapt to its new surroundings in a bleak, coastal Devon. Like fellow actor Gary Oldman, Roth has chosen a difficult tale for his debut film and, like Oldman's Nil by Mouth, this is harrowing stuff.

Jess (Lara Belmont, an unknown plucked from the fashionable streets of Portobello) and Tom (Freddie Cunliffe) are the sullen and monosyllabic teenagers of 'Mum' (Tilda Swinton) and 'Dad' (Ray Winstone, once again impressive in a demanding role). The birth of a late third child brings further disruption to the already unsettled family. Jess and Tom hate Devon: Jess wants to be at art college in London and Tom is missing his friends there. Despite the solid and calming presence of Swinton's unglamorous, down-to-earth 'Mum' (nothing of the Swinton from Orlando to be seen here), the tension within the family is palpable and more deep-rooted than that created by normal teenage angst and challenging geographical circumstances.

At its heart is an incestuous affair between father and daughter, discovered by Tom. With the unbearable weight of this knowledge threatening to crush him, Tom finally unburdens himself to devastating effect.

Stuart's novel courted praise and controversy when published in 1989 for its re-working of popular perceptions of incest and its perpetrators. His 'Dad' is the more disturbing because he is unexpectedly likeable and, while he alone is morally responsible for his actions against his daughter, Jess is provocative and unusually proactive in their sexual relationship. But the truth is that all the relationships in this family are complicated, fraught with a sexual energy that constantly threatens to spill over into violence and mingled with enormous, often misplaced, tenderness. This physicality is mirrored in the tempestuous weather and bold landscapes of Devon and, enhancing these with darkly lit scenes and lingering camerawork, Roth creates a place where wind, rain and cold make any activity perversely sensual.

Reviewed by Andrea Henry