Strong Story of “Words of War” Needs Better Script

Words of War (James Strong, 2025) 2½ out of 5 stars

Born in 1958 and murdered in 2006, Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya was an extremely brave and uncompromising human being. A frequent and fierce critic of Russian leader Vladimir Putin from the moment he came on the scene, she was never afraid to call him out for what he was and still is: a violent gangster. Anyone who thinks he didn’t have something to do with her killing (committed on his birthday, no less) is a fool, a fascist, or, most likely, both.

Unfortunately, the new film about Politkovskaya, entitled Words of War, from director James Strong (United) and screenwriter Eric Poppen (Borderland), is not quite up to the task of celebrating her life and accomplishments, though its cinematic heart is very much in the right place. There’s just too much expositional dialogue in all the wrong places, telling us that which would be better absorbed in less obvious ways. Because of the very timely subject matter, given that the United States may well be right now where Russia was two decades ago (in terms of the rise of autocracy), the movie still packs a bit of a punch, but not as much as it would with a stronger script.

Maxine Peake (Dance First) stars in the lead, and brings integrity and passion to the part. Jason Isaacs (Mass), as her husband, Sasha, flounders somewhat, but that’s because his role is to serve as foil to his wife’s desire to pursue the gritty details of a story (he worries about their safety). When a character (even one based on someone real) exists to prompt the release of story information, they can end up as a one-dimensional device, which is the case here. The same holds true for Politkovskaya’s children.

Ciarán Hinds (In the Land of Saints and Sinners) fares a little better as Anna’s boss, Dmitry. He’s the editor of Novaya Gazeta (“The New Newspaper”), an independent outlet founded with funds from former Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev. Committed to speaking truth to power, at least initially, Dmitry finds himself under immense pressure to rein in his crusading reporter.

Putin solidified control over his empire over the crisis in the separatist region of Chechnya, which he revolved through a ruthless bombing campaign. He learned the lesson that the best way to win a conflict is to obliterate your enemy. Not much has changed. Anna Politkovskaya tried to shed light on his methods and paid the steepest price for it.

Politkovskaya certainly deserves to be remembered. Her kind of courage is rare. There’s a glimmer of that in Words of War, at least. The best part of the movie is in the ending credits, when we see a tribute to all those who have lost their lives under dictators.  If only the entire movie had that kind of bite.

Christopher Llewellyn Reed

Christopher Llewellyn Reed is a film critic, filmmaker, and educator, as well as Film Festival Today's Editor. A member of both the Online Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic, Chris is, in addition, lead film critic at Hammer to Nail and the author of Film Editing: Theory and Practice.