{"id":282076,"date":"2024-02-19T08:28:10","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T08:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=282076"},"modified":"2024-02-21T09:26:10","modified_gmt":"2024-02-21T09:26:10","slug":"offg-recommendswag-the-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=282076","title":{"rendered":"OffG Recommends\u2026Wag the Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kit Kightly \u2013 Off Guardian Feb 18, 2024<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail were smarter, the tail would wag the dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wag the Dog is possibly the greatest political satire Hollywood has \u00a0produced. It\u2019s just that simple. If you only take one message away from this review, it should be that.<\/p>\n

That might seem an absurd claim in a world where Dr Strangelove<\/em> and Network<\/em> exist, but Wag the Dog<\/em> does something no other film has ever really dared to do\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2026it keeps the story real.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t feel the need to extend into absurdity to water down its points, nor make concessions to the character or intentions of the ruling class.<\/p>\n

So often, too often, films or television which are hailed as \u201cbiting satire\u201d \u2013 think The Thick of It or Veep \u2013 are de-fanged by becoming cosy<\/em>. The political world portrayed as a circus inhabited by foolish but well-meaning<\/em> clowns. Failures are of imagination or competence, never character or intent. People may be self-centered or shallow, but never really malign.<\/p>\n

Wag the Dog, uniquely, \u00a0doesn\u2019t pull any of those punches.<\/p>\n

Directed by Barry Levinson and released in 1997, the story follows political \u201cfixer\u201d Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) who is drafted in by the incumbent administration to divert the public\u2019s attention away from a Presidential sex scandal.<\/p>\n

With the election just twelve days away the POTUS has been accused of sexual misconduct by a teenaged girl. Knowing that such a huge scandal can only be diffused by an equally huge distraction, Brean enlists Hollywood producer Stanley Motss with a simple mission: Fake a war.<\/em><\/p>\n

And they do.<\/p>\n

They invent soldiers and heroes and casualties and enemies. They fake atrocities and POWs and public support. With nothing but narrative \u2013 briefings, press-releases, strategic \u201cleaks\u201d and denials, Brean constructs an entirely fake reality and his audience live in it, and never doubt it for a moment.<\/p>\n

Wag the Dog<\/em> is brilliant in its comedy and brutal in its bleakness.<\/p>\n

Really, when discussing it we need to focus on its dual aspects \u2013 as both film and political message.<\/p>\n

The Film<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Satire aside, Wag the Dog<\/em> is an achievement as a piece of art.<\/p>\n

Visually it\u2019s nothing special. Levinson steers the story and does very little else. He\u2019s at home in the medium of the intimate, mid-budget character pieces \u2013 think of Rain Man<\/em> or Diner<\/em>. Wag the Dog<\/em> is another example in that genre, though the scope of the story is wide its scale is small. The world outside the camera is much bigger than one we witness in front of it.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a story, mostly, about the interplay of two men \u2013 Brean and Motss. There\u2019s hardly a shot that doesn\u2019t have one of them in it, and there\u2019s no quirk of editing, lighting or setting to entertain the eye, it\u2019s just told straight.<\/p>\n

These days stories this small are usually highly stylized, the domain of eccentric auteurs like Wes Anderson or Yorgos Lanthimos. In that way the film is dated, an example of the grounded visually real drama\/comedy that flourished briefly from the mid 90s to the end of the 2010s thanks to writer\/directors like Alexander Payne or Peter Hedges.<\/p>\n

The performances, across the board, are pitch perfect, with fun small parts for Woody Harrelson, Dennis Leary and Willie Nelson, and good supporting work from the late Anne Heche.<\/p>\n

But, really, the movie belongs to the two leads.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Brean (De Niro, right) finds a kindred spirit in Motss (Hoffman, left)<\/p><\/div>\n

It is the contrast between the characters and performances that drives the film forward.<\/p>\n

De Niro plays Brean as cerebral, cool-headed \u00a0and quiet, a friendly face over a core of steel. We don\u2019t know exactly who he is or what he does, we only get a few clues for reference.<\/p>\n

We know he was instrumental in setting the stage for Desert Storm, and was privy to the first draft of the Warren Report (\u201cIt said Kennedy was killed by a drunk driver\u201d<\/em>).<\/p>\n

And we know his reach is as limitless as his cynicism. He is witty, charming\u2026and psychopathically pragmatic. He doesn\u2019t particularly want to lie, he doesn\u2019t want to hurt anyone\u2026but he will without hesitation \u00a0if he needs to.<\/p>\n

Opposite that you have Hoffman\u2019s ebullient and theatrical Motss \u2013 a more straightforward trope. A consummate showman who revels in the thrill of \u201cproducing\u201d on the fly. A man so engrossed in creating his pretend war he never truly engages with the reality of his situation until he\u2019s forced to.<\/p>\n

What they share is something that few others in either the film world or real world have \u2013 an innate understanding of how to spin a narrative, and how people respond to storytelling.<\/p>\n

This shared vision is what drives the movie and their success.<\/p>\n

The music, too, deserves a mention. With the stand-out being the song pastiches, most particularly the \u201cThe American Dream\u201d, an almost cruel pastiche of charity songs such as\u00a0We Are the World<\/em><\/a> or Do They Know It\u2019s Christmas?<\/a><\/em>:<\/p>\n