From Sundance: ‘Atropia’ is a Hilarious Masterwork of Political Satire

Imagine if the U.S. military had created a lifelike simulation of fictional Iraqi towns on U.S. soil. They had done so in order to acclimatize American soldiers to both the violence and culture of the war they were about to be deployed into.

There is no need to imagine.

It is hard to believe that the world of facsimiles that Hailey Gates builds is not a product of pure fiction. “Atropia” was originally proposed as a documentary to study the mock villages that were built in the wake of 9/11.

“The military was not so keen on the version of the doc that I wanted to make,” said Gates in an interview with The Wrap. “So we decided to be satire.”

As a result, the film follows overly ambitious actress Fayruz (Alia Shawkat) through her days in “The Box” — the simulated Iraqi war zone — and the sudden turn her life takes once a romance blooms between her and the American soldier Abu Dice (Callum Turner), who plays the role of a violent insurrectionist in the simulation.

The opening minutes of “Atropia” unravel beautifully. In a classic action sequence, what first seems like an attack on dutiful American soldiers and civilians by an insurrectionist car bomb immediately becomes laughable when the set’s loudspeaker announces that a horse-bomb — a bomb attached to a fake horse — failed to explode.

The artificiality is broken and the mutilated victims of the bomb who just happen to be amputees or are doused in fake blood snap out of their role, rendering the previous sensationalism a regular day of work.

Gates fully commits herself to ensuring that the concept of such simulations is always hyperbolically ridiculed by its aesthetics: The introductory video to “The Box” synthesises Y2K and Frutiger Aero aesthetics, auditions to play perpetually traumatised civilians mirror the mechanics of America’s Got Talent, and the dialogue ingeniously codifies the monolithic American perception of Middle Eastern people.

In “Atropia,” the falsity of the entire operation is always palpable, creating a film that offers a matrix of commentaries in almost every scene. Whether it be directed towards the Bush administration, American exceptionalism, Islamophobia, or mainstream cinema that indulged itself in the Iraq War (e.g. “American Sniper”), no stone is left unturned in Gates’ sandbox.

With help from a script that hits every comedic and dramatic beat, Shawkat plays Fayruz with a magnetic energy that makes every second of her screen time both hilarious and human. Her chemistry with Turner’s Abu Dice is hypnotically earnest as they balance a dichromatic dynamic that blossoms into an unconventional and raunchy romance.

On the surface, Abu Dice emanates the spirit of the ragged trigger-happy soldier that takes great pleasure in re-enacting his glory days in Iraq. Fayruz initially comes off as a cunning and shallow go-getter that perhaps takes her job too seriously. Yet by the end, the script instills a complexity in them by framing both of their lives as deeply fragmented from America’s war on Iraq.

Therein lies the genius of “Atropia”: Any cursory interpretation of the humor, narrative or characterization gives way to the dark depths of the film’s political context.

As the viewer traverses through the intimately splendid landscape of the Californian desert or the simulatory Hollywood studio, any time they stop to think about the mechanics of the warped world, the sordid truth of America’s military activities and its repercussions is buried into their psyche.

“Atropia” is a masterfully dark satire because of how loud its subtleties are whilst remaining laugh-out-loud hilarious. With its stunning direction and acting, this relevant and innovative venture is sure to make its mark within the wider canon of American war films.

—Staff writer Kai C. W. Lewis can be reached at kai.lewis@thecrimson.com.