"IN THE LOOP"

“In the Loop” Directed by Armando Ianucci, starring James Gandolfini, Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi and Gina McKee.

THE REAL DECIDERS
By Gaetana Caldwell-Smith

British TV Director Armando Ianucci‘s first full length film “In the Loop” is a fast-paced romp through the inner workings of the US and UK governments, a satirical farce on how these countries ended up invading Iraq. The dialogue is sophisticated, witty, and 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), who misspeaks when asked about a possible war in the Middle East. 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 US president. The characters embody the same back-biting, dog-eat-dog office politics as careerists face in the corporate world. Still, it appears they have no interest in how what they do affects the population much less the world.

There’s a meeting of the mysterious War Committee - - whose acronym sounds like a breakfast cereal or a software program. Foster thinks he’s invited 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 Judy, his assistant (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 credit. Malcolm gets hold of it, cuts and pastes it on his laptop, kneeling at a low table in a UN hallway. He 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 a alcove where he’s greeted by an assistant to the assistant secretary of defense, a lad who looks barely old enough to shave; his aide is a black guy who brings coffee. 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 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?