In the Loop (2009)

[randy_byers]

This would make for a very strange double-bill as the opener for The Hurt Locker. It is a satire from the British perspective of the push toward war in 2003. As a satire, it is about a collection of very bad, if all too human, people. Vanity, stupidity, cupidity, oneupmanship, sycophancy, and careerism rule the day. Alas, it feels realistic in a

Comments

Not that I'm on a downer or anything

[liveavatar]

I saw these movies just a couple of days apart from each other, so it was nearer to a double bill than usual.

Your point is well taken about the realism of In The Loop. In fact, it heartened me in a way. It mirrored enough things I've seen going on in my own social circle recently that it helped me take a step back from some things that really irritated me: it's not just that my particular irritants are morons, it's that moronosity is everywhere and one must deal.

The fluidity and fluency of the cursing cheered me up too. I've always been a fan of good vitriol. The showdown between Peter Capaldi's and James Gandolfini's characters *almost* disappointed in that regard -- at first I expected huge gouts of florid language from the two of them, but then I realized they'd taken each other's measure and were using a style more appropriate to equals.

Re: Not that I'm on a downer or anything

[randy_byers]

The scene between Capaldi and Gandolfini is really interesting. It's the one time anyone really punches Capaldi as hard as he punches, but yeah, nobody wins. (Speaking only of verbal punches. There's also the scene where Capaldi is humiliated by the David Rasche character, but that's a different kind of abuse.)

Re: Not that I'm on a downer or anything

[the_gardener]

I expected huge gouts of florid language from the two of them, but then I realized they'd taken each other's measure and were using a style more appropriate to equals.

Much of the dialogue in the film, as in the TV series, is unscripted -- the actors are told what their characters are intended to be like, and build it up from there. (Peter Capaldi's Malcolm Tucker is a near-clone of Alistair Campbell, although Campbell has repeatedly tried to claim otherwise.)

Re: Not that I'm on a downer or anything

[randy_byers]

One thing I wondered as I watched the film is that the two most vituperous, vicious characters are Scotsman. Is this considered a stereotype in Britain?

Re: Not that I'm on a downer or anything

[the_gardener]

Not particularly. (If the part requires it, Capaldi can do posh Englishman just like anyone else.) But Jamie....headgardener and I were beginning to wonder whether the character would be absent from the film, given that he took so long to be brought on stage, but watching him come in and destroy a fax machine was just triff.

There is also an oblique political point to this Scottish foul-mouthedness which any non-British audience would probably entirely overlook. Viz: New Labour (the Blair ascendancy) has presented itself throughout as a metropolitan southern English phenomenon....when in fact all its leading lights are Scots (including Blair himself). Having them all come on and swear like troopers is perhaps Iannucci's dig at the falsity of their pretence.

Re: Not that I'm on a downer or anything

[randy_byers]

Interesting! Thanks for the further context.