In The Loop (4½ Stars)

I don't believe this film was very successful when it was released in 2009. I'd never heard of it until I recently stumbled on it by accident. As a political satire its comedy rests in the fact that it's very close to the truth. Too close.

America is considering a military attack in the Middle East. Britain has no official policy. The Prime Minister doesn't want to propose a war because that would make him look like a warmonger, but he doesn't want to oppose a war because that would anger the Americans. Then one day the British Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, blunders by calling a Middle East war unforeseeable in a radio interview, jeapordising Britain's neutrality. He tries to clear up the confusion, but blunders again by making statements that sound like the British government supports the war.

So off he goes to America to take part in meetings to defuse the situation. But everything he says makes things worse. Everyone around him has their own agenda, whether they support or oppose the war. The only thing that unites everyone is a total disregard for the truth. First the politicians speak, then the spin doctors rewrite the speeches to their own ends.

Incredible! This film is a hidden gem. Watch it if you can.