If you liked the TV-series The thick of it, you'll probably appreciate In the loop, which is loosely based on that series. We're dealing with political satire that depicts the world of politics with a cynical, yet understanding, eye. This is not a film about a specific political issue - not even the war of Iraq which the politicians and bureaucrats portrayed in the film are making policies and statements about - but rather how bureaucracy and politics are linked within an endless loop of "policy-making" and committee-running. Actually, if you have seen the series or this film, the word "policy" is hard to say or see with a straight face. The style of In the loop is very similar to that of the series: a hectic cluster of scenes, hand-held camera, people rushing in & out of rooms, continuously firing off obscenities at each other.
The dark heart of the film is Malcolm Tucker, the PM:s Minister of Communication, whose armada of swearwords is seemingly endless. The story starts off when the Minister for International Development, Simon Foster, tells an interviewer that war is "unforseeable". The Minister, an insecure guy who hasn't grasped his place in the world (at one point, Malcolm calls him "a Nazi Julie Andrews" for having blurted out something about "climbing the mountain of conflict"), is sent off to Washington to gather information. Disaster, of course, ensues.
Arguably, this is not a film-film. It's more an extension of the series The thick of it. A harder question concerns what kind of humor the film trades in. How does it treat its cynism? Does my cynical stance become too comfortable? Well, I wouldn't say that. In the loop (and The thick of it) is a good satire of political language. In focusing on that, it stands out from other forms of satire.
In the loop is not a very original film. But it hell is funny one.
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