In The Loop (2009) - Film Review

If all the world’s a stage, then politicians are the biggest game-players. In the Loop is based on the BBC’s scathing political comedy The Thick of It, both directed by Armando Iannucci. The film version is a scorching satire that shows the hallowed halls of political powerhouses Washington and Westminster, and what really goes on behind the scenes: word-play, one-up-manship and war-mongering. It’s a portrayal of the internal conflicts that create international wars.

America wants a war, and Britain doesn’t want to commit to wanting anything at all. British minister Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) is prone to misstep and misspeak, and when he says that war is ‘unforeseeable’ in a climate where the Americans want war to be as foreseeable as possible, he finds himself inadvertently working for the most powerful country in the world (which is not his own). Soon he is a political pawn being manipulated by the British PM’s Director of Communications, Malcolm Tucker (Peter Capaldi) who is set on communicating nothing; the American Linton Barwick (David Rasche) who is most definitely not in charge of a secret committee dedicated to planning a war against a nameless country in the Middle East; and US assistant secretary for diplomacy Karen Clark (Mimi Kennedy) who has her suspicions that, well, maybe he is.

Fitting for a film about wordplay, In the Loop has one of the wittiest, wickedest scripts. The characters double-speak in double-time, and the one-liners come so thick and fast that there seems to be almost no point in distinguishing them from the lines that follow: the script is just one, long line that leads to an inevitable conclusion. It is a merciless film that takes no prisoners.

The reason why this film is such a scary satire is that one feels this piece of fiction might be much like the real thing. It seems unlikely that the real institutions – while this dysfunctional – are this funny. And that’s not even the real tragedy of the situation. The fact that this farce is inspired by real-world events is a less comedic calamity. The cynicism, the corruption, and the cover-ups – it all feels too unfortunately true.

Pitch-black and pitch-perfect, In the Loop is painfully funny – but also just painful.  Certainly not a film about policy specifics – merely the process of political machinations – it still strikes close to home (and against a recent penchant for wars). In the Loop demonstrates what we’ve all heard before: that the pen is mightier than the sword.  And that it can be sharper, too.