Happy 4th everyone.
Following the President of the United States coming under fire for acting inappropriately against a “Firefly Girl,” Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) is brought in to do damage control. To that end, Brean enlists Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to manufacture a fake war with Albania to get the American public talking about something else. And they do so with all the snappy dialogue that co-writer David Mamet specializes in.
This movie is extraordinary. Not because of its humor or the strong performances from its cast, though both are well done as well. It’s because Wag the Dog is somehow able to predict the next two decades of American politics. The only thing missing is a black man running for President. I could spend my whole review listing every example I can think of, and I will.
The first thing that jumped to my mind when watching this movie was Donald Trump with everything during his, shall we say, controversial presidency. Though primarily the time towards the end of his presidency when many other people and I became afraid he just started World War III. American politics turning into a vast media spectacle is also highly reminiscent of Trump during his campaign, though he certainly didn’t create that. If anything, he just made it so much worse.
Also, a president caught up in a sex scandal? Hello Clinton and Lewinsky, which actually happened about a month after this movie came out. The President starting a war to distract from a scandal? As numerous people in the media have already pointed out, the Clinton administration did that too. Three times, actually, with the August 1998 bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory, the December 1998 bombing campaign of Iraq, and the spring of 1999 intervention of the Kosovo War campaign against Yugoslavia.
At one point, Brean gets pulled over by the CIA, who know that there is no evidence of war with Albania. Brean turns the whole thing around by saying that clearly, they are not very good at their job if they have no proof, while also saying that the future wars will be against nuclear terrorism? Hello, war on terror and invasion of Iran. On a side note, this might be the only film I’ve seen where the CIA is the least shady group of people involved.
The film’s final shot is (spoiler) a news report of an Albanian terrorist group taking responsibility for a terrorist attack. After everything that’s happened, it’s left ambiguous if that was just another distraction or if the American government has inadvertently helped create a terrorist group. If it’s the latter, then hello al-Qaeda and ISIS. At least, that’s what the word on the street was. Evidence of the opposite being true does exist. (/spoiler)
This movie does not paint the American government in a flattering light. I almost didn’t want to publish this review today because I believe that holidays are a time to stay positive. I relented only because I thought it’d be more timely to talk about this movie now, while the Trump administration is still fresh in people’s minds. However, if you do want to watch Wag the Dog, then I’d recommend doing so on any day except today.
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