Atropia - Sundance 2025

Atropia [2025]

Film

When Haley Gates introduced her, recently Jury Grand Prize awarded, film Atropia before my Sundance screening, she called her work "a smart movie, but also a profoundly stupid one." Still shaking from Jury member Celine Song's high praise, Gates aptly described her film's sizzling satire as one that has phenomenally potent socio-political commentary, yet remains entertaining in its outrageous comedy.

Atropia examines the military-industrial complex through "The Box," a strategic military outpost in the California desert that's designed to look like an Iraqi village-except it’s actually in a fictional country they call Atropia. Life in "The Box" is quite literally a simulation, every villager is an actor hired to assume a role, whether they act for their current job or their big Hollywood aspirations is another matter, to create a fully immersive training experience for a soon-to-be-deployed platoon of fresh-faced teenagers. Not only does Gates introduce us to "The Box" with a nostalgic early-2000's training video, but she effectively and hilariously sets the stage for a comedic examination of the United States' engagement with Iraq. Where Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers was subtle in its satire, layering military motivation under casual or even deadpan dialogue, Gates is much more direct and absurdist. A truck full of new troops singing (read: screaming) Sheryl Crow, or a cacophony of complaints from workers as their animatronic donkey bomb fails to go off during a training session; all are terrifically written satirical swipes that are to be taken at face value.

While the first half of Atropia flows seamlessly from one joke to the next, making for an exceedingly entertaining time, the second half unfortunately couldn't keep it all together. Effectively running out of steam as Fayruz (Alia Shakwat), one of the Iraqi "villagers" with dreams of Hollywood stardom, and Abu Dice's (Callum Turner), an Iraq veteran waiting for redeployment, strange romance takes center stage. Gates' film still maintains its absurd sense of humor, especially seen as Dice says "I'm gonna wash you like a dirty dish" to Fayruz, but there are some odd identity choices undermine the romantic entanglement considering the two lovers' motivations and ideals. Even though the entertainment factor is still present, which is further emphasized by Tim Heidecker and Chloe Sevigny’s top military officials acting as if they’re casting directors, Atropia finds itself spread too thin across its ideas. Suddenly, instead of being the sharp, witty, satirical film it started as, it’s a homunculus of plot points that should serve as one coherent plot instead of warring factions.

All of this is to say that I did enjoy Atropia, it’s a side-splitting comedy that nails its satirical rampage and in doing so, is incredibly fun to watch. I just wish that it had kept that same tight focus throughout. If there’s one thing to take away from Gates’ Sundance award winning film, it’s that not even an endangered tortoise can stop the gears of war.

Froth

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