Opened August 2, Running to November 3, 2024 – Click here for schedule.
Reality Check: Washington Post Excerpt – “President Donald Trump’s assault on American democracy began in the spring of 2020, when he issued a flurry of preemptive attacks on the integrity of the country’s voting systems.”
“The doubts he cultivated ultimately led to a rampage inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, when a pro-Trump mob came within seconds of encountering Vice President Mike Pence {The mob was out for his blood but missed their opportunity), trapped lawmakers and vandalized the home of Congress in the worst desecration of the complex since British forces burned it in 1814. Five people died in the Jan. 6 attack or in the immediate aftermath, and 140 police officers were assaulted. The consequences of that day are still coming into focus, but what is already clear is that the insurrection was not a spontaneous act nor an isolated event. It was a battle in a broader war over the truth and over the future of American democracy.” – Excerpt from Washington Post Investigative Article, The Attack.
WAR GAME
Synopsis Film Review Commentary
I lucked out. The Press Screening for this 94-minute beaut was July 24 at Film Forum NYC – three days after President Biden’s Breaking News announcement, causing me to wonder momentarily if there was a Jungian synchronicity in play.
The screening was staggeringly cinematic. I realized I needed to see it more than once – at least twice – to write a regular review. I’ve only seen it once. So, this is not the regular review format I follow. I hope this page overall conveys what I experienced. Anyone wondering what I thought of, think of regarding this movie, I have no problem exclaiming, People really got to see it. What the movie is about is obviously easy to understand and appreciate, especially for those trying to keep up with current events via reputable news sources.
WAR GAME is and has been described, publicized, marketed, highly-praised, as it rightfully deserves, as a documentary by veteran cinematic virtuosos Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber. Nevertheless, this humbled film reviewer says it’s a sterling, evocative docudrama with mucho panache, verisimilitude and veracity regarding former Donald Trump’s plan, rooted in a megalomania not found in the most recent volume of the bible of psychiatric disorders (the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders AKA DSM – but most certainly should be expected in future volumes because of the pathological audaciousness that can’t be denied. [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders – click here for the latest.
– A film documentary is, by most respected definitions, is a movie based on fact.
– A movie thriller is a genre of film fiction that can have, depending on the filmmakers, multiple overlapping sub-genres like crime, horror and detective fiction.
– A docudrama is a hybrid of documentary and drama about a fact-based representation of an real event.
WAR GAME: I say it’s docudrama of the higher order, There are members of this entity, Order of Columbus, an extremely religious, paramilitary organization that refuses to accept the results of a contested presidential election. This is not real: It’s part of an unscripted, filmic, real-time “war game” simulation conducted by a nonpartisan veterans group called Vet Voice Foundation — inspired by a Washington Post op-ed from three retired generals who warned that the government needed to start preparing for another, even more deadly insurrection in the wake of the 2024 election.
Jan. 6, 2023
A couple of years after the January 6 Capitol riot, a nonpartisan group of military leaders and government officials spanning five presidential administrations gathered in a conference room at the downtown Marriot in Washington. There, they had created a full-scale mock-up of the White House Situation Room, to game out an election certification in January 2025, in which a sitting president has narrowly won, but his charismatic, far-right challenger has claimed to his followers that he is the only rightful leader.
Performers in this docudrama include former Montana governor Steve Bullock (he plays President Hotham), former senator Heidi Heitkamp from North Dakota (she senior adviser to the movie’s president) and so on and so forth … with former senator Doug Jones from Alabama (attorney general), retired general Wesley Clark (chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff), and former Army secretary Louis Caldera (secretary of defense), plus CIA and FBI agents, a Secret Service officer and high-ranking officials in the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security.
On with the script: The D.C. National Guard has been compromised, and religious extremists have been actively recruiting for years within the military, creating a “splinter cell” of rogue members who seek to overthrow the U.S. government and install the election’s “true” winner, failed candidate Gov. Robert Strickland (actor Chris Coffey). They have just six hours to reconvene Congress amid an invasion of the Capitol to certify the election, preserve democracy and avert a civil war.
This thriller gives viewers an inside look-see at the three branches of the simulation, showcasing the intense decision-making techniques of people who’ve actually been read-in on some of the gravest moments in our country’s recent history. White Cell are the game masters dropping elements of chaos into the mix, starting with reports that there is open fire on the National Mall amid 10,000 protesters descending on the Capitol. (Retired Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, the National Security Council officer who testified against the president in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial, is in their ranks.)
Blue Cell are the “good guys” in the Situation Room. And Red Cell are the insurrectionists, spreading misinformation, formulating attacks and sending out commands to their followers.At the center is a president who knows that this moment is about to define his second term in office, if he does indeed get one. “If you overreact, it’ll haunt your presidency,” says one adviser. Heitkamp fires back, “I think the idea that you can overreact to this is not valid.” She wants a presidential shut down of bridges and tunnels into D.C.
This reviewer has to see this film a few more times. Why? Complicated films that can come across as cinematically byzantine the first time one sees them need to be seen again. Binge more than once if necessary.
Editor, Publisher Gregg W. Morris
Can be reached at gregghc@comcast.net, profgreggwmorris@gmail.com