In the Loop

Absolutely fantastically marvellous movie. This caught my eye already few months ago but I remembered about it only watching Oscars where this was nominated for the best adapted screenplay.

The director of this is almost my namesake- Armando Iannucci, a director known in Great Britain as a great tv series director but should do more big screen projects too. The story, as imdb.com ''tells'' us is:

The British Prime Minister and the US President infer that they want to embark on a war in the Middle East. Simon Foster, the British Minister for International Development, states off the cuff in a radio interview that "war is unforeseeable". He later tries to recant this statement to a hoard of news reporters with another statement: "to walk the road of peace, sometimes we need to be ready to climb the mountain of conflict". Both these remarks start a series of manoeuvrings on both sides of the Atlantic by both the pro- and anti-war factions in both governments.

Sounds a bit boring, huh? Just as I though but the movie is laugh out loud funny with some foul mouthed British communications manager swearing on every step and petty government officials doing everything just to protect their carreers- even going to war without any clear reason why qualifies.

The director manages to show distinctly the difference between the two sides of the pond. While British minister has to deal with a local citizen who is threatened by a wall possibly falling down on his property, Americans are all about the War Commitees and big planning. The British are showed here as a pawn to US foreign policy, a little and not much respected brother whose help is only needed to show that they are backed internationally too.

As concerns the humour, the difference between British subtle humour and the American more ''in the face'' one can also be seen in scenes taking place either in Britain or in the US. Handheld cameras that are used to shoot this do not cause nausea but complemented with great writing create sort of a sense of reality.

Peter Capaldi in the role of Malcolm Tucker, the swearing Scottish communications manager, steals the show while members of American cast, such as Don Soprano a.k.a. James Gandolfini do fine too.

Well worth watching. Maybe not as easy to understand what's going on at the beginning, one needs to pay close attention to everything that happens on the screen. I couldn't take in all the cultural references, jokes etc. first time I watched the movie, so probably will need a second look. Overall, 9/10. Well deserved.