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“In
the Loop” Directed by Armando Ianucci,
starring James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander,
Peter Capaldi and Gina McKee.
British
TV director Armando Ianucci‘s first
full-length film, “In the Loop,” is a fast-paced romp through the inner
workings of the U.S. and U.K. governments, a satirical farce on how
these countries ended up invading Iraq. The dialogue is sophisticated
and witty; the repartee zips around like bullets so that you feel subtitles
would’ve been useful, if they could keep up.
The
film begins with a talk-show interview with the assistant prime
minister, Simon Foster (Tom Hollander), a bumbler
who misspeaks when asked about a possible Middle East war. The result is a manic
flurry of activity that has self-important government underlings flying
back and forth from London to hurriedly scheduled
meetings in the White House and the UN. We never see the prime minister
or the U.S. president.
The
characters display the same back-biting, dog-eat-dog behavior as
careerists anywhere in the corporate world. It’s clear that none of
them are the least bit motivated by political convictions or feelings
of moral duty.
There’s
a meeting of the mysterious war committee—whose acronym sounds like a
breakfast cereal or a software program. Foster thinks he’s been invited
to take part, only to learn that he is just “meat” in the
room. James Gandolfini, a towering
presence, plays an imposing but pacifistic General Miller, who runs
into an old flame, Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy), at an exclusive Washington bash at a private home. Clark’s position is akin to an
assistant to the assistant secretary of state. She will be remembered
for two priceless scenes: one in which her “teeth” bleed and another
sitting beside the general in a child’s bedroom, hunkered down over a
toy Mattel-like calculator to come up with the number of troops who
will live or die in the war.
Scots-born,
thin, wiry, eagle-faced Peter Capaldi plays
Malcolm Tucker, the prime minister’s communications director, an antic spin-doctor whose favorite
expletive is the F word or a derivative. He is brash and
insulting, especially to his assistant Judy (Gina McKee), besides
appearing to be everywhere at once. Floating around is a report
for not going to war, written by Clark’s aide, Liza
(Anna Chlumsky), for which Clark takes redit.
Malcolm gets hold of it, cuts and pastes it on his laptop, kneeling at
a low table in a UN hallway, and passes it off as a pro-war
authorization.
An
example of underlings running the White House is illustrated by a scene
of a meeting set up for Tucker with the secretary of defense in the
White House. He is pushed off to a small table in an alcove, where he’s
greeted by an assistant to the assistant secretary of defense, a lad
who looks barely old enough to shave.
Then
there‘s the State Department‘s assistant secretary for policy, Linton Barwick (David Rasche),
who brushes Miller off like a piece of lint. He is an unctuous,
mealy-mouth with a swept-back coif, who, unlike Tucker, rather than
swear, says, “S-star-star-t.”
Ianucci’s brilliant, hilarious film warrants a second
viewing. There is a lot going on—intrigues, liaisons, hook-ups
among aides, toady groveling (a guy named Chad, who, in the
end-credits, which you must stay for, has Clark ask him, “Are you
hanging, Chad?”).
This
complex movie is often difficult to follow, and it appears that no one
knows what’s going on, but blunders on as though they do. Which seems to be the whole point. Does anyone
really know who orchestrated the run-up to the war or the actual reason
for attacking Iraq?
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