Movies of War

Mar 15, 2026 3:34am PT ‘Hell’s Army’ Director on the Rise of Russian Mercenary Legion the Wagner Group, and a Warning for the U.S.: ‘This Darkness Is Coming Everywhere’ The Oscar-nominated 'Dirty Wars' director says his portrayal of the fearsome Wagner Group points to an 'authoritarian turn in our global culture' By Rafa Sales Ross Plus Icon Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Latest ‘Fast and Furious’ Meets ‘Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid’ in Emil Langballe’s Disability Dramedy Doc ‘Petrolheads,’ With Verità Films Handling Sales (EXCLUSIVE) 2 days ago Emma Wall, Betsy Hershey Talk U.S. Climate Activism in Adam McKay-Produced ‘Just Look Up’: ‘It’s No Coincidence Venezuela and Iran Are Oil-Producing Countries’ 4 days ago CPH:DOX Industry Head Talks ‘Privilege’ of Hosting Doc Festival in Denmark in Sensitive Political Times: ‘There’s a Tradition of Calling Things by Their Names’ 4 days ago See All Courtesy of Evergreen Productions When Oscar-nominated director Richard Rowley (“Dirty Wars”) first set out to make a documentary about the Russian state-funded private mercenary faction The Wagner Group, he believed he was chronicling a specific phenomenon. As his research progressed, he realized the film was about something much bigger: how the crumbling of our modern notion of democracy has opened up a dangerous space for lawless, unpredictable and — even more terrifyingly, rapidly expanding — for-hire legions. The result of that work is “Hell’s Army,” having its world premiere at CPH:DOX. Related Stories How the Creator Economy Has Changed Marketing and 'Democratized the Launch of Consumer Products' Radial Entertainment Shops for Content Libraries as Pluto TV and Paramount Alum Jeff Shultz Takes Over as CEO “Hell’s Army” trails dissident Russian journalist Katya Hakim as she chases The Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin across the globe, including Ukraine, Syria and the Central African Republic. The journalist moves in the shadows, having been put onto dangerous lists and seen several colleagues either killed or severely harmed at the hands of the mercenaries. Speaking with Variety ahead of the Danish festival, Rowley recalls how he began his research by contacting veteran journalist Denis Korotkov. Popular on Variety “You can’t make a film about Wagner without talking to Denis,” he says. “He’s the man who exposed them in print for the first time and developed a network of contacts inside the organization that no one else has.” Korotkov introduced the director to his team at The Dossier Center, an investigative project founded in 2017 by the Russian civil activist and former political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The group conducts independent research into corruption, money laundering and international political interference involving individuals connected to the Russian authorities. Richard Rowley, courtesy of Jeff Vespa / Getty Images This is also when Rowley met Hakim. At that point, it became “clear” to the filmmaker that the journalist would be “an amazing protagonist.” “She’s intense and a great investigator. She is focused to the point of obsession and courageous to the point of recklessness.” Having the triad of Hakim, Korotkov and the Dossier Center provided “something unique” to Rowley: Korotkov’s inside access, Hakim’s on-the-ground reporting, and the Dossier’s anonymous team, capable of hacking and obtaining documents and information about the Wagner across the world. “It allowed us both to be global in scope and also intimate in following this one character through all of the chaos and violence of war.” “I’ve probably spent around 30 years making movies about war,” continues the director. “I think war makes clear the symptoms of our darkest cultural sicknesses. I’ve been concerned with and tracking the rise of mercenaries since I saw them on the ground in Iraq in 2004, but when Wagner emerged from the shadows, it was clear we had entered a completely new paradigm. They fielded 30,000 soldiers, larger than most of the armies of Europe. They’re the first private company to conquer a European city in 500 years.” Once immersed in the world of Wagner, Rowley says he realized his film pointed to an “even darker reality” in its grasp of the current “authoritarian turn in our global culture.” “Democracies don’t need mercenary armies,” emphasizes the director. “They’re what states turn to when they are taken over by thugs and gangsters. That’s where the urgency comes from, the fear that this darkness is coming everywhere and the hope that there’s still time to sound an alarm for us all to choose a different collective future.” Courtesy of CPH:DOX Prodded about how working closely with journalists on the film, as well as his own experience as a journalist himself, made him aware of the fragile nature of the practice in an increasingly politically fragmented landscape, Rowley says he believes we are witnessing “the death of the liberal order we had lived under in the post-war period.” This, of course, directly affects journalists’ abilities to faithfully capture the actions of those increasingly shielded by power. “That’s why I open the film with the famous Antonio Gramsci quote,” he notes. “We are living in a moment when this world is gone, and we are not yet capable of constructing a new kind of social order. The attacks and the destruction of journalism are part and parcel of this entire kind of devolution of the world we’ve lived in.” The director makes a point of noting that, despite his film being set thousands of miles away from the United States, it should ring an alarm in his home country. “The authoritarian and oligarchic tendencies that are visible in Russia are visible in the United States as well. Of course, the mercenaries that were rising inside the U.S. military establishment in Iraq were, in many ways, an inspiration to Putin and the Kremlin to create their own operation. The complete media control in Russia… I mean, there’s an increasingly narrow space that we operate in inside the United States as well. I’ve felt [it] in my work.” Given this dire assessment of the state of the world, is Rowley still hopeful about the future? “Definitely,” he promptly responds. “There is no reason to make these films if you don’t,” he goes on. “Whenever you talk to victims of horrible violence, you find people who want to be heard and who deeply believe in the power of those stories. Even though they take risks to speak to you, they are taking those risks because they believe that the work you do is important and it matters. I feel that whether or not I lose hope in one moment or another, I have a responsibility to those people to make their faith worth something.” “Hell’s Army” is produced by Richard Butler, Atanas Georgiev, Odessa Rae, Rebecca Teitel and Caitlin McNally. Midnight Films handles international sales. Jump to Comments ‘Running Point’ Sets Season 2 Release Date, Kate Hudson Returns as Basketball Franchise Boss in First Look Photos Netflix Makes Cuts to Global Product Team as Part of Reorg How the African Screen Industries Are Turning to Tech — and Each Other — to Adapt to Market Turbulence: ‘Every Fight Is a New Fight’ Neeraj Pandey on Netflix Hit ‘Taskaree,’ Franchise Strategy and Why 2026 Could Be Hindi Cinema’s Biggest Year Yet ‘Pride and Prejudice’ Teaser: First Footage of Emma Corrin as Elizabeth Bennet and Jack Lowden as Mr. Darcy in Netflix Series ‘Big Mistakes’ Trailer: Dan Levy Stars as an Incompetent Criminal in Netflix Comedy Series JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...