The Fugue of War

I highly recommend the UK film In the Loop, especially if you enjoy gleefully
cynical inside-politics satire.



Honestly, I’m afraid of how little exaggeration there may be in this fictional tale of
the run-up to a war in the Middle East based on flimsy — if not fabricated — evidence produced by factions in the US and British governments. But it’s less an indictment
of hawkish politicians per se or some would-be cinéma à clef about the Bush Administration than it is an all-too-believable comedic gloss on how any perspective can be spun and sold through power, determination, technology, and the right people saying the right kind of thing amidst the 24/7 news machine.

Peter Capaldi is hilariously foul-mouthed in his rapid-fire Scottish brogue as, I think,
an enforcer of sorts from the UK Prime Minister’s office trying to rein in a hapless junior minister and coordinate with US Assistant Secretaries of State at odds with one another over the prospect of war. The characters on the British side, especially, seem quite casual in a way that makes their protocol hard to follow, but there’s definitely a food chain, as well as disdain on the American side for the UK representatives and jockeying for position within the US contingent as well.

Director Armando Iannucci created the British TV series The Thick of It, from which
In the Loop apparently borrows some characters and even more actors cast in similar but nominally different roles. The only faces most American moviegoers will recognize belong to The Sopranos’ James Gandolfini as a gruff yet poignantly human US general and, possibly, Anna Chlumsky, who starred in My Girl almost two decades ago and
here turns in one of the strongest performances in a film whose cast is uniformly excellent.

Featuring dolly shots and dialogue that put The West Wing to shame, capturing the literal and metaphorical crush of the corridors of power, In the Loop is worth your
time.


Related: Hide and Sneak • North Mythology • Deception