Des hommes d'influence

It's two weeks before the president's re-election and he's far ahead in the polls. A sex scandal allegation with an underage "Firefly Girl" erupts threatening his lead. Spin doctor Conrad Brean (Robert De Niro) comes up with an idea to redirect the talk to Albania. Along with Winifred Ames (Anne Heche), he recruits Hollywood producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) to manufacture a fake war.

This is a brilliant satire with just enough realism for the audience to question whether this is actual reality. De Niro and Hoffman are absolutely wonderful. The humor is biting. It hits both politics and Hollywood. The title literally infects the popular lexicon. It's a wonderfully funny satire.

During the campaign to re-elect the president of America, an underage sex scandal between a girl scout and the president in the oval office. To divert attention spin doctor Conrad Brean is called in to manage the fall out and hold it off for the 11 days till the election. Conrad employs Hollywood producer Stanley Motss to produce a war in Albania to divert the media away from the real story.

This was made before Clinton was accused of misconduct with Monica Lewinsky and the subsequent re-start of military action in Iraq. This seemed to give it a much greater feel of realism and much more credibility. However even before this happened it was still a very sharp and very good satire on political spin, but also managing to have a dig at Hollywood movie types. The story is told in a very stage-play fashion and is dialogue driven with very funny moments throughout. It's not as terrifying as a real look at media manipulation could be because it chooses to be a comedy instead but it still makes plenty of valid points.

The two leads are excellent at the head of an all-star cast. De Niro manages to be a professor-style character while at the same time having an easily accessible sense of menace just beneath the surface. Hoffman is good sending up Hollywood producers well and drawing parallels between the creation of a film and the creation of political news stories. The cast also has a series of cameos and extended cameos who add both humour and quality to the film - Willie Nelson, Denis Leary, James Belsuhi, William H Macy etc.

Recently in the UK we've had huge problems with spin doctors running the Labour Government - to the extent that 11th September was described as "good" by one as it gave them the chance to bury several bad news stories that they had stored up. And more recently with various Governments' waging a media war to win support their stance regarding military action. This film doesn't make hugely serious points but it does make you think about how the media is used to shape public perception and make us think what those in charge want us to think.

Overall a very funny, very clever satire that has a great cast, the only criticism being that it stretches it's point a little too far with the "old shoe" section.

Barry Levinson's under-rated "Wag the Dog" is a brilliant piece of satire which is to the 1990s what "All the President's Men" was to the 1970s. The president is in trouble after a sexual scandal with an under-aged girl. Enter Robert DeNiro and Anne Heche who want to distract the nation with something else as they try to get their boss out of the hot seat. The only problem is: nothing is going on. So it is up to them to create something to rally the country around the executive-in-chief. Now enter sleazy, but high class Hollywood director Dustin Hoffman (in a well-deserved Oscar-nominated turn) who is contacted to start an imaginary war. He agrees and the plan works, but as time goes by more and more problems occur and the lies continue to snow-ball. Levinson's excellent direction and Hilary Henkin's clever screenplay raise the performances of all involved. Naturally DeNiro and Hoffman are guaranteed to excel in a film like this, but good work is also done by people like Heche, Denis Leary, William H. Macy, Woody Harrelson and even Willie Nelson (!?). Somewhat ignored in 1997, but still one of the best films of that year and one of the more important films of the 1990s. 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Watching in 2022 where politicians have now regularly created false issues to galvanise support and maintained that over years has devalued the impact of this film. Most frightening is that this type of deception now works.

As satirical and surreal as this movie seems, it also has that air of 'Dr. Strangelove' that dialog, scenario's, and actions might not be that far off the mark. Past, present or future. And is scary how 'spin and deflection' has become such an art now. Back in FDR's day with his poliomyelitis, it was just common sense and general agreement to not make it an issue, or use it against him and his leadership. Cut to Bill Clinton and his indiscretion in the oval office, was dragged out and questioned to the point of making him a monster. 9/11 to this day is still questioned by many was it a conspiracy or not? To promote Bush Jr and/or give America good reason to infiltrate the middle east and all? And unlike the mystery of the JFK assassination, 9/11 conspiracy and Republican deflection is more probable and provable with technology and communication - either overtly in front of everyone's eyes, or hacked and exposed via WikiLeaks et al. And even then, it's held with scrutiny, unchallenged, and allowed to wither and fade in everyone's memory. With Wag The Dog, it seems so simplistic at first. DeNiro's 'Mr. Fix It' character seems to know how to handle everything just so. But it also shows the complexity and ease of so many involved that can take a minute piece of information and exploit it or counteract it with a simple leak and denial. And I think it's important to advise viewers to pay attention to the ending. As the supposedly internal mucking and manipulations to secure ones leadership CAN have an effect on another region of the world as a gateway trigger effect. Can we ever re-establish 'real news' over 'fake news' today and for the future...?