Take a heap of political satire of the British comedy Yes, Minister, add a pile of sobriety from the American television series The Office, and sprinkle all the expletives you have heard in an Eminem album. Let it simmer for a year in the presence of highly talented actors, and what you end up with is In the Loop, a comedy directed by Armando Iannucci that has won rave reviews from critics despite, and because of, its foul-mouthed language.
In The Loop is a satire about a possible confrontation of the U.K. and the U.S. with an unnamed middle-eastern nation, one which sounds like a typical oil-fuelled economy.
There are both pro-war and anti-war groups in the two countries, and the 106-minute long film is about how one side tries to manipulate and destroy the other, or the bystanders, to achieve its own end.
The crazy drama begins at Downing Street where Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the British Prime Minister's press secretary, finds that a low-level Minister of International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) has done something he is not supposed to: he has taken a stand on a possible war in the Middle East by saying war is “unforeseeable”. The British government does not have a stand on the issue, as Malcolm explains to Simon rather oxymoronically, “War is neither unforeseeable nor unforeseeable”. Simon is given an opportunity to correct his gaffe, and ends up further in trouble by giving a pseudo-philosophical quote: “It is necessary to climb the mountain of conflict to achieve peace”.
On the other side of the Atlantic, however, both pro- and anti-war camps in Washington are in no mood to give in to the other, and both sides use the unknowing Simon shamelessly for their ends. The Americans are as confused about the war as the British, as an American General says in the film, “12,000 troops. But that's not enough. That's the amount that are going to die. And at the end of a war you need some soldiers left, really, or else it looks like you've lost.”
The story then becomes meandering, unpredictable, and at times, confusing. But the dialogues are so witty and eloquent that viewers won’t care what happens next, they’ll just be hoping for some more of the wit in the next scene. The actors convincingly get into the skin of the political hacks they are supposed to portray. Capaldi’s portrayal of Malcolm Tucker is eerily (or purposely) similar to the real-life gaffes of Alastair Campbell, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s press secretary
You will have to watch the movie more than once to understand the complicated interlinks. Plus, the fast-paced volley of witty remarks with wittier profanities will give you a tough time in keeping up with the intricacies of the plot. The film is not for those who revel in computer-generated special effects; rather, it is for those who pay attention to little details in the plot, and for whom, the dialogue is where the meat of the film is.
There is a lot to learn from this film. There is no grand scheme of things, just silly personal greed. No political act is a culmination of hard choices, but a result of adult-behaving-as-children trying to beat others in the race. And yes, all the politicians are blithering self-obsessed idiots. But then, that’s a cliché.
A good advice: If you are one to squirm at profanities, be ready to cover your ears for the entire film.
The crazy drama begins at Downing Street where Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi), the British Prime Minister's press secretary, finds that a low-level Minister of International Development Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) has done something he is not supposed to: he has taken a stand on a possible war in the Middle East by saying war is “unforeseeable”. The British government does not have a stand on the issue, as Malcolm explains to Simon rather oxymoronically, “War is neither unforeseeable nor unforeseeable”. Simon is given an opportunity to correct his gaffe, and ends up further in trouble by giving a pseudo-philosophical quote: “It is necessary to climb the mountain of conflict to achieve peace”.
On the other side of the Atlantic, however, both pro- and anti-war camps in Washington are in no mood to give in to the other, and both sides use the unknowing Simon shamelessly for their ends. The Americans are as confused about the war as the British, as an American General says in the film, “12,000 troops. But that's not enough. That's the amount that are going to die. And at the end of a war you need some soldiers left, really, or else it looks like you've lost.”
The story then becomes meandering, unpredictable, and at times, confusing. But the dialogues are so witty and eloquent that viewers won’t care what happens next, they’ll just be hoping for some more of the wit in the next scene. The actors convincingly get into the skin of the political hacks they are supposed to portray. Capaldi’s portrayal of Malcolm Tucker is eerily (or purposely) similar to the real-life gaffes of Alastair Campbell, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s press secretary
You will have to watch the movie more than once to understand the complicated interlinks. Plus, the fast-paced volley of witty remarks with wittier profanities will give you a tough time in keeping up with the intricacies of the plot. The film is not for those who revel in computer-generated special effects; rather, it is for those who pay attention to little details in the plot, and for whom, the dialogue is where the meat of the film is.
There is a lot to learn from this film. There is no grand scheme of things, just silly personal greed. No political act is a culmination of hard choices, but a result of adult-behaving-as-children trying to beat others in the race. And yes, all the politicians are blithering self-obsessed idiots. But then, that’s a cliché.
A good advice: If you are one to squirm at profanities, be ready to cover your ears for the entire film.
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