Shock and Awe movie review & film summary (2018)

In piecing together the mounting evidence of the fraudulence of the rush to war with Saddam, Landay and Strobel dash around Washington in typical movie-reporter fashion, comparing notes with each other and with Walcott after talking with various insiders, most of whom are not named but identified only as “U.S. Official” or such. Since the movie is supposedly based on the recollections of the main characters—who also include a caustic veteran reporter, Joe Galloway (Tommy Lee Jones)—it’s curious that such anonymity must be maintained this long after the fact.

Screenwriter Joey Hartstone, who scripted Reiner’s flawed but altogether more successful “LBJ,” has a knack for writing crisp, flavorful dialogue. But in addition to falling into the common historical-screenwriter’s trap of conveying too much information in big blocks of turgid speechifying, he must also be faulted for some tension-killing digressions such as the coy romance between Strobel and his cute neighbor (Jessica Biel), which might have come out of a 1950s Hollywood movie.

The film’s script, though, must be credited with some surprising inclusions. For one, a couple of mentions are made of the malign influence of Israel on American foreign policy. For another, when it comes time for Congress to vote on approving Bush’s war plans, we’re given the sad roll call of the Democrats who voted in favor: Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Kerry, Joe Lieberman, and so on.

From a historical perspective, this disgraceful tale climaxed with General Colin Powell testifying in support of the fake intelligence regarding Saddam’s WMD, which echoed Condoleeza Rice’s warnings of mushroom clouds blossoming over America if Saddam wasn’t stopped. “Shock and Awe” reminds us all of this, and of the American media’s shameful complicity in fomenting an unjustified and vastly destructive war. But it also includes such moments as Sen. Robert Byrd’s moving speech drawing parallels between the lies that drew America into its Vietnam debacle and the falsehoods that would destroy many American and Iraqi lives in Iraq. At the current moment, when a president who lies constantly has his finger on the nuclear trigger, such warnings could not be timelier.