In the Loop

The invasion of Iraq and the deposition of Saddam Hussein, involving as it did the United States and United Kingdom, among others, had an enormous impact on global politics for much of the last six years. In the Loop is a satire on the events, familiar to the most casual observer, immediately leading up to the invasion. A particular emphasis is made on the chicanery of senior members of the US/UK alliance when dealing with questions from key UN committees pertaining to the existence or otherwise of material evidence that Hussein had built up stockpiles of “weapons of mass destruction”.

In the Loop comes from the same stable as the UK-produced television show The Thick of It. Armando Iannucci and Peter Capaldi (both Scottish and both, with those surnames, surely of Italian heritage) are the most prominent linkages between the two productions. Iannucci, a seasoned satirist, earns writing credits for both, and, in ITL, Capaldi has the role of a foul-mouthed UK civil servant with a strongarm approach to diplomacy, browbeating all and sundry into capitulation -an eminence grise with his very own considerable stockpile of “F-bombs”. Steve Coogan has a minor role, albeit one that is pertinent to the plot, and James Gandolfini and Anna Chlumsky also star, the former in the Colin Powell role of U.S. Chief of Staff, the latter engaging as a U.S. aide.

Satire plays a vital role in all apects of life, and the freedom to criticise the activities of our appointed leaders makes it seem appropriate to prefix an evaluation of a satirical work with an acknowledgment of the genre’s importance to our collective mental health. As a satire, ITL succeeds for several reasons, but not unequivocally. Primarily, the intended impact of the, genuinely terrifying, manipulation of evidence made to the UN prior to the invasion hits the target, and surely this is the intended priority. To achieve this, the audience have to believe in the authenticity of ITL’s world – satire must refer to reality – and we are inclined to do so. There is an overall sense of priviliged access to the corridors of power on both sides of the Atlantic. That credibility established, there is plenty of cathartic humour at the politicos’ expense.

On the down side, and this is perhaps due again to the legal implications of staging such a production, the ITL is not exactly a timely release, coming as it does several years after the fact. Also, there are some rough-edges to the production. The hand-held, documentary-style, camerawork, which tries to suggest that we’re watching a fly-on the wall documentary, doesn’t seem consistent throughout. Also, the human-interest story around which plays the larger satire per se is not fully convincing, and much of the swearing from Capaldi’s character is unjustified, being more prosaic than actually witty.

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