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Poster for Words of War

Words of War

2025 · 117 min

A tense, sobering watch that follows a determined journalist into danger, leaving you anxious and moved by her refusal to stay silent.

Directed by
James Strong
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Starring
Maxine Peake, Ciarán Hinds, Jason Isaacs
Tagline
In a world silenced by fear, her truth was unstoppable.
Overview
World-renowned journalist and human rights activist Anna Politkovskaya went from being a local print journalist to braving the Chechen killing fields and exposing Russian state corruption under Vladimir Putin. She refused to give up reporting on the war in Chechnya despite numerous acts of intimidation and violence, including being poisoned. She was ultimately murdered in the elevator of her block of flats and it remains unclear who paid for the contract killing.

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Stream in the UK
  • Amazon Prime Video
  • ITVX Premium
More options Data from JustWatch
Directed by
James Strong
Genres
Drama, Thriller
Starring
Maxine Peake, Ciarán Hinds, Jason Isaacs
In your watch list

How it feels

Written by AI. It can be wrong.

Tone
  • tensestrength 3 of 3
  • darkstrength 2 of 3
  • earneststrength 2 of 3
  • bleakstrength 1 of 3
Pacing
measured, 2 of 4, from slow-burn to relentless
Attention
engaged, 3 of 4, from background-friendly to demanding
Themes
  • corruption
  • justice
  • power
  • violence
  • betrayal
Places
  • big city
  • military
Era
contemporary
Audience
adult
Form
  • true story
Content intensity
  • Gore mild
  • Language mild
  • Violence strong
  • Sex none
All scales, 0 to 10
Scales, 0 to 10
ScaleValue0 to 10
Action3
Horror2
Humour1
Realism9
Romance2
Tension8
Darkness7
Complexity6
Emotional weight8

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Where to watch in the UK

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Rent
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Buy
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Streaming data from JustWatch.All options on TMDB

Details

Genres
drama, thriller
Directed by
James Strong
Written by
Eric Poppen
Starring
Maxine Peake, Ciarán Hinds, Jason Isaacs, Naomi Battrick, Harry Lawtey, Ellie Bamber, Ben Miles, Ian Hart
Music
Snorri Hallgrímsson
Cinematography
Mike Eley
Runtime
117 min
Country
United Kingdom, United States of America
Languages
English

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