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We had some relatives over this weekend and the conversation turned to the situation in Iraq and the terrorist bombings in Spain. Soon, two movies came up. Bowling for Columbine, and Wag the Dog. I own a copy of ‘bowling’ on DVD, but we had to go to the rental place to get ‘dog’. I hadn’t seen it for a couple of years, but it turned out to be just as relevant as when it first came out.
“Wag the Dog” is about media specialist Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) who steps in when the American president is accused of sexual assault only days before the elections. He has to keep this story off the news for just 11 days to get the president re-elected. To achieve this he turns to Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman). Together they create a fictitious war with Albania. With fake news footage, a Willie Nelson song and even a war hero they lead the American public to believe the USA is fighting terrorists in Europe’s poorest country.
We found this movie filed under “Comedy”, but it’s so much more than that. It’s really clever, and the implications of the story aren’t funny at all. It all just makes a little too much sense, and makes you wonder about the timing of many recent media events, like the capture of Saddam Hussain and the bomb threats in France last week (let’s not forget that France opposes the war in Iraq).
With Hoffman, De Niro, Woody Harrelson, Anne Heche, Denis Leary, William H. Macy and Kirsten Dunst, this movie has a great cast. I found it quite funny that the president is never actually shown. They probably did this to make the movie more ‘future proof’, and I guess it paid off when the film was released in the middle of the Monica Lewinski schandal.
“Don’t believe what you read”. Or see. I’ll rate this **** (out of 5).
Roy (114 posts)Web designer and programmer, movie fanatic and devoted dad from Huizen, The Netherlands.
4 Comments
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Aaah, this is truly a great movie; one of my favorites. I cannot think of another movie that has come out in the past 15 years that is so relevant and scary at the same time.
One must keep in mind that this movie was made before Lewinsky-gate! This is a prime example of fact following fiction. And regarding the last war, I got a huge d’j'-vu when I saw the ruckus around that black soldier-woman that got captured and then liberated. The whole heroism around it was a complete copy of the ‘Old Shoe’-gag in the movie (with Woody Harrelson as the reluctant hero).
You should not forget that the US government met with the media and film moguls in order to boost the country’s moral. They wanted positive movies and t.v. shows, so this movie isn’t that far-fetched.
Comment by Paco — Tue April 13, 2004 @ 14:03Great stuff!
this movie has a great concept. It’s very scary. I’m expecting the capture of Osama Bin Laden (or someone who looks amazingly just like him) to happen about one before the US elections in November.
Comment by marisa — Tue April 13, 2004 @ 18:47I’m expecting the very same thing! I actually heard an unconfirmed news story about the supposed capture of Osama, si I guess they’re keeping him ‘in the fridge’ until he suits their campain…
I’m getting quite cynical, aren’t I?
Comment by weefselkweekje — Tue April 13, 2004 @ 19:24well, i don’t think the capture of osama close to the US election is a far-fetched concept. after having been browsing around michael moore’s site and reading his books, i really do believe that it would actually happen.
*sigh*
Comment by isyana — Thu April 15, 2004 @ 11:31(preparing for what the world would come to in the next 4 years…)