The Guard

With all the detractors of Kristen Stewart re: the Twilight saga, it's fair to say that they can now eat her shorts. Camp X ray highlights the fact that sometimes, people are wrongfully imprisoned or detained, that what may be deemed as a threat to national security by the policy makers and the flow on effect of orders in that respect, can possibly be askew.

Connecting with another person on any level, in any scenario, as a result of any reason or no reason at all, is what life is about. Although this film is the work of multiple talented entertainment artists, and the story, they're interpretation of what life may be like at Guantanamo Bay for it's detainees, there's a powerful message, a range of kindness and emotion, uplifting and educating to the end.

Kristen Stewart, simply amazing...

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Camp X-Ray" (2014) is nothing very superb or original, but it's a nice drama. Set in kinda unique place, it lets the very simple story of a friendship. Story about friendship would be simple, except that it occurs between two people from different universes, but at the end they get attached by a simple humanity. This a well acted, directed and written drama, which won't going to win any Oscars, but it will do just fine for one evening.

Overall, "Camp X-Ray" is nicely done drama, set in a unique location and features old as the movies itself plot about friendship between two different people, who wins each others respect and friendship due to common acts on decency.

Camp X-Ray is one of those films that doesn't quite leave you after the credits roll. It wasn't what I was expecting and I was surprised the film didn't revolve around politics. The cinematography, the soundtrack, including the constant hum in the background all formed a very real atmosphere. Visually, Camp X-Ray is impressive, but the real essence of the film does lie in the characters. The acting is some of the best I've seen.

80% of the film takes place on opposite sides of a cell door. We catch a small glimpse through a small glass window, and yet this is enough to feel the chemistry between Peyman Moaadi and Kristen Stewart. I can't even begin to imagine the difficulty at capturing what they did through a window, but it appears effortless.

The characters are incredibly fleshed out and there are some small hints of this, such as a glimpse of Cole wearing socks with sandals. A personality statement in itself. It's all about the small things!

I do think a big part of why this film affected me so much is because of my age. I saw parts of Cole in myself.

She wants to make a difference, she's seeking a way to push herself and the army is a straight forward way of doing that. It pushes your limits, it goes against what women should really do, and by doing that you're trying to prove something within yourself. You're tougher and braver than you appear. Yet put in this situation, things aren't so straight forward or 'black and white' as she expresses. Life is so much more complicated, relationships develop, experiences happen that throw you off course.

Then there's the added uncertainty of everything, the frustration of not knowing, wondering whether this is right? Whether this is what you want to do? Whether it's okay to speak to this guy? Questioning what you have always been taught is right and wrong.

I do feel that a lot of films tend to portray women as tough, fearless and almost masculine, but underneath the tough front, I think we all really are vulnerable. There's no escaping that. It's easy to act like things are okay, to put on a tough front, to hide, but there's still always going to be that vulnerability...maybe it goes as you get older, I don't know.

In the end she discovers her way own way of making a difference, in a way that at the beginning of the film would have been unimaginable, and it just shows how much can change, how little we know, and how important it is to keep an open mind.

Overall, I was surprised. It wasn't the film I expected, but much, much more. You'll feel every emotion imaginable. It's the kind of film that takes everything you know, or think you know, stirs it all up and throws it back at you to figure out.

Everything about this film is commendable.

This film affected me very deeply in a way I was not expecting.

Kristen Stewart and Peyman Moaadi deliver stunning performances which take your breathe away. You really feel for this guy and Stewart has never been more convincing. I thought it would be a stretch to imagine her as a tough soldier and it is kind of surreal yet she manages to create a credible person out of the role. Her emotional distress as the contradictions of her job as camp guard begin to overwhelm her, is very powerful and a pleasure to watch.

This film totally changed my mind about Gitmo. Just because it makes you realize the awful possibility that totally innocent people may be stuck there, and that unlike any other prison in the USA, there is no way for them to appeal or for anybody to appeal on their behalf.

There must be some way to allow mistakes to be corrected. It's not right.

It's amazing to me that I never saw it that way. I just assumed that they were all hard core bad guys. But what if they aren't.

That would be a terrible fate, and this film really punches home how terrible it would be.

"Give me Azkaban instead" "Is that one of the Arab books?"

This very first short and amazing conversation between the soldier Amy Cole and the intern Ali Amir starts something heartfelt all lasts all the way to the end.

"Camp Xray" is a complex movie with complex characters. Neither is good or bad, they're just ordinary people in difficult circumstances. Sometimes Amy and Ali are unsympathetic and sometimes they're the absolute opposite. They're human. At all these different times, their reactions are understandable.

It can be toxic to be in such a hyper masculine environment as the army. Especially as a woman. Or, in any working place with just male colleges, to be real. It affects us all, man or woman, but as a woman you may face sexism, be distrusted, not be acknowledged like your colleges, and not believed to be able to do your job as good as a man.

Kristen Stewart's character faces these things, and she's also conflicted between her army duties and her friendship with Ali, and their slow mutual understanding. There are several power imbalances - the male soldiers have power over Amy, and Amy has power over Ali, by the structures that our society exists by.

i love Kristen Stewart, and I think she gets too little credit for her acting. It might not be very variated, but she has a way of acting that is unlike other actors, something I cannot quite put my finger on. Many of her characters suffer in silence, and how she portrays that in this film works so well. She's just so great and convincing as Amy Cole.