Des hommes d'influence

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...?

It had been a while since I last watched this film, but I once again remembered the reasons why I loved it so. Thoughtful and evocative, this film really captured the nature of politics and spin doctoring. This certainly ranks as one of the best political comedies of all time. The over-the-top attitude of the film didn't detract from anything, making this still quite believable. It also demonstrated how people's emotions can be manipulated when aggressively attacked. The fragile nature of the human spirit tends to make us more susceptible to such manipulations, as demonstrated in this film. With the exception of Anne Heche, everyone's performance in this film was rather good. The only other downside was Mark Knopfler's score, which was completely out of place in this film.

"Wag the Dog" is the blend of politics and media that may be true, but is generally accepted, ignored or disbelieved. Although the portrayal in this film is surely exaggerated, it is sadly probably not far from the mark.

As is well-known now, this film came out around the same time President Clinton had a sex scandal of his own to deal with. Some have accused him of deflecting criticism by talking up violence towards Iraq. The fact this film was made just before such an event makes it even more important.

With a great early performance by Kirsten Dunst, and the winning combination of William H. Macy, Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro... can this film really ask for more? Oh, and there's Denis Leary! (Willie Nelson and Shooter Jennings, too!)

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.

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.