WAG THE DOG |
| CREDITS: Director: Barry Levinson Cast: Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman & Woody
Harrelson USA 1997 (15) INTRODUCTION: Filmed almost back to back with the deeply unpopular (around the Lizard's Lair at least) "Sphere", Levinson and Hoffman redeemed themselves with this political satire. In complete contrast to the previous film I saw that day, Pedro Almodovar's "Live Flesh" this one played to a packed Electric Cinema Screen 1, packed curiously enough with Spaniards, but they just seemed to be there for the Fosters commercial. Could it be that I was going to be forced to admit liking a popular film! SYNOPSIS: Faced with charges of molesting a Fire-Fly Girl (the Girl Scouts are far too powerful in America to risk offending them so film and TV makers tend to invent organisations), just 11 days before the election, the president sends his best spin doctor (DeNiro) into action. This spin doctor employs the assistance of an embittered film producer (Hoffman) to fake a war in Albania to redirect media attention. REVIEW: It is of course ludicrous to believe that a US president would be so incapable of defending himself against charges of sexual misconduct that he would have to start a war to distract the media, as I'm sure Mr. Clinton would have proven in the Monica Lwenski incident, if it hadn't been for that unfortunate non-event blowing up in the Gulf and distracting the media's attention at precisely the wrong time. This is an American film made by Americans primarily for consumption by Americans and yet it has been injected with a healthy dose of cynicism and an underlying anti-American rhetoric. Proof indeed that Hollywood does occasionally produce decent films. The consequences of 'spin' is a subject that is very important to me. I already mentioned briefly in my review of "Live Flesh" my distrust of capitalism and the democratic process and one of my heroes, Noam Chomsky ("Manufacturing Consent"), has long warned of the perversion of democracy by media manipulation, and to see even such a diluted version of his theories making it into mainstream cinema is a joy to behold. OK, so it didn't give me a spontaneous orgasm but it came embarrassingly close. An amusing picture with a deadly serious message. Mutt's Rating: *** |