Writer and director Hailey Gates expands her seventeen-minute short film, “Shako Mako” (2019), which means “what’s up,” to the feature length “Atropia” (2025) with uneven results. Alia Shawkat plays the protagonist in both movies, but they have different names in each film. During the Second Gulf War, 2006, at Fort Irwin, California, an immersive urban warfare simulation facility, soldiers are trained. Fayruz Abbas (Shawkat) is one of the actors playing an Iraqi local woman who is a working actor committed to the bit. When she meets a fellow actor, Abu Dice (Callum Turner), a soldier who served in the war, the sparks fly and not just from the fake IEDs. Meanwhile their absurd surroundings only highlight how ridiculous the war is. Unlike the original, this ambitious film is a rom com with the satire verging on bad taste.
I watched “Shako Mako” after “Atropia,” and though the films have the same premise, the short feels sincere whereas the second is deliberately more exaggerated to sell the satire angle. It probably was harder to get funding about an Iraqi actor trying to make it big in California who acts more as if she is an enlisted person as opposed to an actor, but it is still the best story. In the short, the character does engage in some tone-deaf comments that reflect that she has lost sight of the fact that war and pain are behind everything that she does, and it is real for some people, but she is so serious and method that it is obvious that there are no bad intentions. Is it wrong to say that Shawkat was also better in the short? The gifted actor has been working almost as long as she has been alive, and most people probably know her from “Arrested Development.” As Fayruz, she is so over the top that she almost does not feel authentic and had me scrambling to verify whether she could do brown face. Well, jury is still out since Zoe Saldana did blackface. Shawkat is an Iraqi American, and she will not be the first actor, whether as her character or herself, who plays a role that stereotypes her identity or her background. While it is a deliberate, conscious choice that Gates and Shawkat made, it still feels wrong. I will defer to other film critics from that demographic to render a verdict, but I felt uncomfortable.
The heart of “Atropia” is the comedic Romeo and Juliet romance with an enlisted soldier playing an insurgent who then falls for an Iraqi American woman. It takes a long time for that story to hit its stride while simultaneously skewering how ridiculous the training and war is. Turner, who was terrific in “Eternity” (2025), is fine here, but he is as close to a real person as the story gets and often risks overshadowing Fayruz, who is more interesting. Gates visually contrasts reality with the staging. When Dice talks about his time in Iraq, Gates switches to a handheld camera as if he is an embedded journalist to show his firsthand perspective. It is a nice touch but not as meaningful as intended. This storyline has potential because it is not often that an attractive woman who is not at her peak for a variety of spoiler reasons gets paired with someone considered a heart throb, but ultimately it feels forced. They hit it off. They have problems. They makeup. It feels obligatory, and the actors do a lot of heavy lifting to bridge the gaps that Gates left in the writing. Gates also plays their peculiar flirting for laughs, which works well initially and will probably elicit moviegoers’ first hearty guffaw, but eventually seems vaguely insulting as if both are engaged in some sort of fetish.
There is only one soldier whom the protagonist interacts with in the short, and the relationship is professional and courteous. The military in “Atropia” are mostly played as incompetent and for laughs. One private accidentally reveals that he kept an iPod. His punishment is being dubbed iPod and singing when ordered. It is funny in a type “LOL” in a text way, but does not elicit genuine laughs. Those who are the head of the base act more like Hollywood gatekeepers than military. If you are old enough to remember “Wag the Dog” (1997) and the plethora of Iraq War inspired films, it feels like familiar territory and is stale. If you did not get your fill of Chloe Sevigny when she wore a bad wig in “After the Hunt” (2025), then you are in for a treat because here she gets bad makeup complete with frosted lipstick. The indie queen’s schtick is familiar but feels more automatic than if they could afford Tilda Swinton. The movie unfolds on Thanksgiving, and it felt as if a lot of meat was left on that bird.
Unsurprisingly the most poignant scenes were between Fayriz and the Mayor, whom Shawkat’s father, Tony, plays. Occasionally characters will talk about how they do not know why they are fighting in Iraq, but when the Mayor discusses it, the dialogue does not seem recycled and is surprisingly sensitive to the absurdity of the situation’s players. “Atropia” is better when the characters play it straight.
“Atropia” also feels dated even though not a lot of time has passed between filming, post-production and its release in theaters. The opening and closing (there is a post credits scene) offers some information about such facilities. Whenever a film cloaks itself in making an explicit statement about the world instead of the themes surrounding historical events, it endangers itself into becoming irrelevant. A nothing, crowd pleaser film like “The Choral” (2025) feels more incisive on its commentary on war than Gates’ first solo feature because currently some are viewing President George W. Bush with nostalgia because of Presidon’t. Also this film’s most powerful message was not a universal statement about war, but about the immigrant and first-generation American experience and wanting to repatriate to a place that does not exist and finding a very problematic, poor substitute in the US; however, Gates flies the warning flag that the US may fight Russia. Bwahahahaha. Nope. Think more ridiculous choices. Couldn’t they cut that part of the film before release? It is the exact reason that speculating about future conflicts can end the film on an unintentional false note.
As a romcom, “Aropia” is fine, but if it had stayed the course as a character study of an actor who does not fit the demographic that gets auditions and is in love with her craft, it would have been brilliant. If you are a fan of the cast, definitely check it out. While Gates almost broke new ground, her vision got too bogged down trying to appeal to the mainstream and lost the secret sauce. She had her finger on the pulse about noting the immigrant and first gen experience of being accepted as an American if they play the role of the enemy, but fumbled it.
