What the heck was going on?

I agree. For the majority of the movie I was trying to figure out who the "terrorists" were.
I came to the conclusion that the men in black were insurgents mixed with a few British, who had some kind of beef with the British government. Possibly religious, but never the less I feel like they were radicals for regime change.

You weren't supposed to understand. The war was seen only though the eyes of Daisy as she experienced it.
I read a headline saying the movie was "an authentic depiction of society on the brink."
No. It wasn't. Not even close. I would have LOVED to see an authentic depiction of society on the brink. But it wasn't about that. It was about a self-absorbed teenager without interest in anything but herself falling in teenage puppy love while "the society on the brink" played out as an annoyance to get past as she tries to recapture that love. It may be enough for some audiences, but because director Kevin MacDonald wanted the themes to stay focused on Daisy, those larger questions can't be answered.
Granted, Daisy was an interesting character and I'm a HUGE fan of Saoirse Ronan who carried the film beautifully. Overall I liked the movie. But it came up short in that one important aspect.

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Yep, exactly what I kept thinking.
Lots of unexplained plots points.
May I add.

1, What was the mother's involvement?
2. What was the graph on the computer all about?
3. After the nuclear blast why didn't Daisy check the graph on the computer?
4. Why not give some explanation for the cause of the war in the first place.
5. What the hell was the point of showing a sex scene with under 15yr olds. Made me cringe.

>>Oh, and although the crazy thoughts dialogue was very reminiscent of The Host it was annoying in that very average movie too.

I thought of it too and it reminded me of the The Host, but more like "The Host: Hardcore!"


2013: Ain't Them Bodies Saints, Her, Short Term 12, Only Lovers Left Alive

It was the Irish, they had enough of British occupying their lands, so they joined forces with the Scots and they were both financially backed and supplied by the French. As for the nuclear device, they had infiltrators in the military who obtained it.

or

Population control, round up and divide the women and men, force them into slavery cropping for veggies, exterminate the men by bagging their heads and suffocating them to death. Along the way resistance rose up.

or

Just blame the French, it's easier.

I agree. The idea that UK is invaded on land before mainland Europe is amazing, especially as it has a strong navy and air force. Throughout the movie, it is clear that the gov't controlled the air space and the seas, since it was over in less than two months or so. The alternative would be if they really cut out social assistance to poor immigrants to such a scale that they would be eager to take a chance and attack one of top 5 economies in the world (I believe). Still, they would never be able to terrorize the north, 500 km away (the girls walked 3 weeks, or what?), especially with no air space control at all. Imagine that US would also intervene immediately. In fact, the whole plot is completely isolated from the rest of the world, and the only message I can see in this movie is: disregard civil society which is the base of our democracy and stick with your close family whatever happens. We are under siege! Boo!!! Be irrational (life does not make sense), be xenophobe, don't question your government or society. It may be a good advice 3 years from now, but I hope it won't. :)

The kids make reference to both "terrorists" and "fascists", so the way I read it is that there is some sort of upsurge in terrorist activity in Europe, prompting the UK government to invoke a military government (which Isaac calls fascist - he refers to the swimming trip as the last time to have fun before the fascists take over), which in turn results in some sort of civil war within the UK. We don't know how many years in the future this is, but it could be set at a time when a significantly higher percent of the EU's population is Muslim and ready to invoke Sharia law. The idea of any terrorist group staging a full-scale land invasion of the UK is highly unlikely, and the terrorists wouldn't have honored a cease-fire, so a civil conflict like the one in Syria is the most likely scenario. One loose end remains though - neither anti-fascist partisans nor the British Army would have had a reason to kill everyone at Isaac's military camp and then bag them.