Why is a general talking to Rolling Stone in the first place? That the question asked near the end of War Machine, a film loosely based on The Runaway General, a National Magazine Award finalist for excellence in reporting by Michael Hastings. (The same article, it should be mentioned, that helped lose Gen. Stanley McChrystal his job as commander of all U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan.)
Hastings, who died in a car crash four years ago at 33, expanded his
2010 profile of McChrystal into a 2012 book-length expose called The Operators.
He caused a furor by reporting comments from the general and his staff
that were critical of Obamas war policy, saying it would lead to
Chaos-istan. Long story short: The man talked shit about the President
and got shit-canned for it. But theres more here than hubris. The real
story at the core of Hastings reporting remains the war machine and
how it operates. Thats why Rolling Stone is talking to him in the first place.
And that should be why Hollywood and Netflix decided to make a movie. Theres certainly dramatic conflict to spare in the story of a rogue general who decides he can win the war even as Obama announces dates for the withdrawal of troops. Brad Pitt stars as the military man, here dubbed Gen. Glen McMahon for reasons best known to litigators. The star can be great in go-for-broke roles (12 Monkeys, Fight Club, Snatch, Burn After Reading, Inglorious Basterds), but he pushes the character too far into caricature. Pitt goes big and blustery when what his performance needs is more stealth and danger. The general believes he can win the war through counterinsurgency. He believes in the men who soldier on for him. As much as he believes in his own personal glory? Probably not. But there are three dimensions to this ramrod. Pitt and the script give us one.
The Runaway General: The Profile That Brought Down McChrystal The Useful Idiots New Guide to the Most Stoned Moments of the 2020 Presidential CampaignHow Leonard Cohen's 'Hallelujah' Brilliantly Mingled Sex, Religion
David Michod, the talented Australian writer-director of Animal Kingdom and The Rover, loses his way in the byzantine byways of global warfare. His movie wants to be savagely satirical a sort of millennial Dr. Strangelove. But he lacks Stanley Kubricks keen eye for the skull beneath the skin. The filmmaker delights in showing Obama snubbing the General on every occasion, especially on an airport tarmac. Afghanistans democratically-elected leader, Hamid Karzai (Sir Ben Kingsley), is shown obsessing over DVDs. And one scene, at a Paris restaurant, with the general watching his master plan unravel before his eyes, achieves a high level of farce.
But the too-blunt comedy defangs the film. As does the irritating voiceover from the Rolling Stone reporter, played Scoot McNary, which breaks a cardinal rule of filmmaking: show, dont tell. In The Runaway General, Hastings wrote of McChrystal: His slate-blue eyes have the unsettling ability to drill down when they lock on you. If youve fucked up or disappointed him, they can destroy your soul without the need for him to raise his voice. Damn, I would have liked to see that. And I bet Pitt could have shown it to us but not in this movie. Somewhere along the way, War Machine forgot that
world leaders and policy wonks dont mean a thing if
theyre not flesh and blood.
Posting Komentar
Posting Komentar