In The Loop

Initially, I shied away from the film version of The Thick of It. When British TV programmes go international, they tend to lose a lot of what makes them great. Whilst I wasn't expecting In The Loop to be as wanky as a Richard Curtis movie, I did think it would end up as a neutered version of the very, very dark original TV programme. Which was something that could endanger the brilliance of the original series. But last weekend, I caught it. And it was pretty much spot on.

The caustic, brutal cynicism and the eye-watering profanity was still there. This was an angry piece of film-making, and it seemed to make few allowances for the international audience likely to be watching this film. As always, I learned about new combinations of swear words that had never occurred to me. And some of the imagery - especially around the horse's cock - nearly had me retching. 

The introduction of new characters also helped the film. The Americans were a varied, complicated bunch when they could so easily have been generic, cliched ciphers rather than actual characters. And the new Minister - Simon Foster - was a wonderfully clueless creation. It would almost be possible to feel sorry for him as he was such a pawn in the games of others, had he not sold his soul and political beliefs at the first sign of a trip to the UN. That said, his bollocking of a hungover aide was a sarcastic person's wet dream. 

There were some standout scenes as well, not least they one where a greasy, arrogant American Assistant Secretary of State actually managed to verbally emasculate Malcolm Tucker. It is the sort of thing you never expected to see, but he did actually manage to shut Malcolm Tucker up. 

Overall, though, the film was more than a little terrifying. It would ludicrous to call it a horror movie - this is the very definition of a black comedy - yet its presentation of how nations go to war was oddly compelling and as a result, very scary. It suggested that the decision about going to war aren't made by noble leaders genuinely believing in the aims of that war. Rather, they are made by arrogant politicians who give no thought to the practicalities of armed, international conflict. By assistants with chronic, mouth bleeding toothache. By hungover aides who don't think about the consequences of what they do. By British Ministers who get erections at the very sight of a motorcade. And by merciless spin doctors - rabid dogs set up to protect and fight for the interests of their masters. And this is perhaps the scariest thing of all. Imagine Malcolm Tucker being ordered to fight on the side of peace. He'd have us committed to pacifism for the next ten years. This film shows that those who make the monumental decisions over things like going to war actually aren't thinking - at least, not in the way you or I would think. Instead, they are pawns in a game that no-one seems to have control of.