Civil War: A Movie Review
Civil War opens with a fictional US President (Nick Offerman) rehearsing moments before delivering a national address, trying to find the right phrasing and tone to reframe a bloody civil war nearing ugly conclusion as the greatest victory in the history of mankind.
The rhetoric is dialled down in his live address, but the viewer can quickly surmise he is a generic “conman in chief” type of leader, embodying familiar traits of populism in the “post-truth” era.
This role has minimal screen time, and is not played as a simple satire of Donald Trump. Offerman plays the role as a character of his own Thespian devising, mannerisms, and expression. A politician with traits relevant to the story’s scenario. There’s a natural overlap with Trump, instructed by some of the things we’ve heard from him, or that he would like to do. I think that’s unavoidable. If there wasn’t, the script would be avoiding comparison to reality to the point of being dishonest about the kinds of threats that make its story relevant to tell now.
I think the movie has quite a keen disinterest in making its audience think about any individual politician, and it puts many cultural elements in its crosshairs. Even more so, this is not a story about Republicans and Democrats, or good side versus bad side.
