Why War

Martin, an archivist-historian, uncovers a diary from a World War I soldier. The pencil-smudged pages don't speak of heroism, but of the smell of wet wool uniforms and how skin cracks from trench cold. Simultaneously, his own life unravels: his marriage is fracturing, and the university threatens layoffs due to budget cuts. The deeper Martin delves into the past, trying to comprehend the motives of a long-dead man, the less he understands his own. The film explores not the global causes of conflict, but the personal, existential fissure that forms when the abstract concept of 'war' collides with concrete human fatigue, fear, and the necessity to make choices whose consequences will never be fully clear.