Politics on film

[selenak]

raincitygirl's comments about Michael Collins the other day, in particular the mistake Neil Jordan fell in by making Eamon de Valera not just the villain, but a stupid, incompetent villain (to say nothing of galores of similarly evil and incompetent Brits), reminded me how rare good political drama is. Because most filmmakers and scriptwriters, it appears, can't resist simplifying matters into black and white, and politics, like the truth, is rarely pure and simple. (That was your Oscar Wilde misquote of the day.)

Some months ago I watched the first season of The West Wing, and was charmed. I still am. (And wish for the second season, but it comes after B5's third and the Extended Edition of TTT on my "things to aquire" list, to say nothing of Neverwhere, once it becomes available for our region.) And I would much prefer to live in that reality it describes. At the same time, the European in me, when not actively watching the show (which during that time manages to make me suspend disbelief because it's so well-written and played) finds all that high-mindedness a bit tasting of opium for the masses. Where is the acid?

In today's Observer, there is an intriguing article/interview about Stephen Frears' new film, The Deal, about Tony Blair's relationship with his archrival and chancellor, Gordon Brown, and Blair's rise to power. Frears, who with Dangerous Liasons and The Grifters tucked under his belt knows all about corruption, manipulative ruthlessness, selling out and close relationships becoming poisonous, sounds like the ideal person to handle this, and I trust neither Blair nor Brown nor Mandelson will come across as stupid and incompetent. (The article refers us to yet another Frears movie, My Beautiful Laundrette, but the prospect of Blair/Brown UST is a bit too much to contemplate.)

Now, this is all very intriguing, but it makes me wonder - will we ever get a similar drama about Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in a similar fashion? (Titled "16 Words", perhaps?) Somehow, I doubt it. Oh, not because there aren't American film makers interested in politics and with a less than rosy view on the current administration. But let's say Oliver Stone - an obvious candidate. But he's too much into grand opera. Look at the way he tackled Nixon: The result was Nixon as a Shakesperean tragic hero (great performance by Anthony Hopkins, btw), to the point where you expected him to talk in blank verse. Which is a viable interpretation, but… I can't see it working for the current bizarreness and its star players. (For starters, here is no Nixon in sight; one of the best scenes of Stone's movie, something which according to one of the participants actually happened, is Nixon, on the eve of abdication, making his uneasy ally/enemy Henry Kissinger pray with him, on their knees, despite the fact Kissinger doesn't believe and Nixon is of course guilty (and knows Kissinger has betrayed him). It has something of Coppola's Godfather movies. Can you imagine something like this with Dubya and Rumsfeld?) What the article about Frears calls "a course between high drama and low farce" seems to be more suited. Abandon all high mindedness, ye who enter.