Could Another January Insurrection Happen? This Film Imagines It

NEW YORK (AP) — Election results are contested. Far-right extremist groups plot to overthrow the electoral college vote count. Protesters gather in Washington with TV news screens blaring: “Capitol in Chaos.”

In the White House Situation Room, the president gathers with advisors to consider their next moves. Only this is not January 6th, 2021, but a simulation of an insurrection very much like it.

In January last year, a group of former generals, senators, governors, and civil servants gathered in a Washington D.C. hotel to run a war game exercise. Their goal was to experience a scenario where the United States teeters on the brink of civil war in January 2025, and perhaps find ways to avoid a widely shared American nightmare.

In this queasily familiar but slightly alternate reality, the incumbent is President John Hotham, portrayed by former Montana Gov. Steve Bullock.

“On the one hand, I’m fairly used to dealing with challenging situations,” Bullock said in an interview. “Here, it really was between the fog of war and the fog of disinformation, trying to figure out what was right not just for today but for tomorrow. It was definitely a tense six hours.”

For those six hours, Bullock and a group of government and military officials — both Democrats and Republicans, many of them highly accomplished — lived through an imaginary coup. Throughout this intense session, directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss were there with cameras to document everything as it unfolded.

Their film, “War Game,” which opens in theaters across the country Friday, is an almost-real political thriller. Combining elements of improvisational theater and dystopian fiction, the film adds up to a sobering documentary about our current political reality. It’s a “Dr. Strangelove” for today.

“I couldn’t help but feel that it was prophetic, that it would be a kind of crystal ball that would help us peer into a possible future, perhaps to avoid it,” says Moss. “We didn’t know if the country would descend into civil war.”

The game was organized by Vet Voice Foundation, a nonprofit group for veterans. They were motivated by the fact that many military veterans were prominent in the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol; nearly one in five of those charged had a military background. A particular inspiration was a Washington Post op-ed by retired U.S. generals who expressed alarm over the possibility of a successful coup and raised concerns about rogue military units disrupting the chain of command.

“Given what we saw on January 6, anything is plausible,” says Retired Gen. Linda Singh, who plays the chief of the National Guard Bureau in the film. “We’ve seen a lot of veterans in that group, whether they’re working for police departments or they’re retired. We have to plan for the most extreme.”

In “War Game,” the fictional group of extremists, the Order of Columbus, is led by Kris Goldsmith, an Army veteran who became disillusioned after fighting in Iraq following Sept. 11. In the film, he says he’s playing a twisted version of himself. Some 7% of the National Guard are said to be members of the Order of Columbus, which backs Gov. Robert Strickland (played by Chris Coffey) for president.

Among the ensemble are renowned politicians and former military members known for prioritizing country over politics. They include Retired Gen. Wesley Clark, former North Dakota Senator Heidi Heitkamp, and Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman, who in 2019 testified about former President Donald Trump’s controversial call to the president of Ukraine.

“I take both my testimony in front of Congress and my participation in this movie to be a showcase of career public service, solely interested in the public good and U.S. national security,” Vindman says. “You could agree or disagree with some of the decisions that were made, but I think we effectively showcased folks looking out for the U.S.”

Thus, “War Game” may represent not just a fearful possible future, but the dedication of career civil servants. “Those are patriots. All of them — Democrats and Republicans,” says Bullock.

“I’d like to think they reflect our political system,” says Gerber. “I think they reflect the best of our political system.”

“War Game,” which almost shares a title with the 1983 Matthew Broderick nuclear war thriller, Moss likens to a prequel to Alex Garland’s near-future-set American dystopia “Civil War,” released earlier this year. Moss also co-directed “Girls State,” documenting Missouri teen girls forming a mock government, which he finds newly relevant given the current political climate.

“The film seems to change every time it screens,” says Gerber. “But the relevance of our film does not end with this election. The issues we currently face did not arise overnight. It’s been a long, slow bake to get to this point. We as a nation have a lot of self-reflection to do, and hopefully, ‘War Game’ is part of that process.”

In “War Game,” the fictional situation takes a perilous turn. Military bases are compromised, and state capitols are overrun. President Hotham is advised to hack his opponent’s email and to declare the Insurrection Act. However, Bullock, in character, opts against such drastic measures, considering their long-term ramifications.

“Wherever we are on the political spectrum, preserving the rule of law and the underpinnings of this 250-year experiment is pretty damn important,” says Bullock. “There are things more important than an individual election and that’s the promise this country has offered.”

Source: AP News