’Wag the Dog’ excellent entertainment and social commentary

By Krista Benson

The president is accused of sexual misconduct. In an attempt to avoid the issue, he has a spin doctor fabricate a war and a nuclear threat to  divert attention from his “fetishes.”

Sound impossible? Or, more likely, sound too possible? Recent events have shown that this concept is not so far from reality. Yet, this is no a fairy tale: It’s the idea behind “Wag the Dog,” starring Robert DiNiro as a spin doctor who creates a war to win a presidential election for an incumbent who has a thing for little girls.

The president has 11 days until election day. He is winning by a slim majority in the  polls when a Firefly girl accuses him of  molesting her in the Oval Office.

In an  attempt at damage control, the White House staff contacts Conrad Brean (DiNiro) to help them solve the problem.

His suggestion? Make up something bigger than sex, bigger than scandal.

Make up a war.

The staff, headed by Winifred Ames (Anne Heche), goes along with Brean, involving Hollywood producer Stanley Moss (Dustin Hoffman). They hire him to produce the “project” of his life — the war that saves the presidency.

Through twists and turns, changes and rearrangements, “Wag the Dog” becomes more of a statement about the American public than a movie. People, the movie states, can be lead to believe anything. While they think that they use the media to control politics, sometimes politics use the media to control the people.

The tail can wag the dog.

The movie is never predicable. Of course, you know that the media campaign will probably work … but there are those moments where you have to wonder if it will. When the CIA intervenes, or the “war hero” that Moss digs up to be the poster boy of the “Armenian War” turns out to be a felon, the viewer has to wonder if this group of cons can pull this off.

“Wag the Dog” is an impressive concept, showing the viewer exactly how the media has the ability to control how the public thinks. During the police action in the Gulf War, after all, how did we know that anything was going on in the Gulf? Television. The news showed the public what was “really going on.”

Any movie that can combine the talents and genius of DiNiro, Hoffman, Heche, Denis Leary, and Willie Nelson with a script that has a very timely plot (do Iraq and Monica Lewinsky ring a bell?) and a thought-provoking message deserves the attention that this movie has received.

An impressive script with an admirable idea, coupled with theatric talent, will succeed. “Wag the Dog” does that in a way that can not be easily categorized.

This movie is more than a drama or a comedy. It’s a social statement,  and not in an annoying, preachy way. It shows us, the American public, as we really are.

We’re being wagged by the tail more often than we think.