Slideshow
WAR GAME
Opens Friday, August 2
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY JESSE MOSS AND TONY GERBER
What will happen on January 6, 2025, when Congress convenes to certify the 2024 presidential election? Will the duly-elected candidate be confirmed, or will another — more successful — attempt to subvert the democratic process unfold? Will government leaders be prepared? The ex-government and military participants of WAR GAME (Steve Bullock, Heidi Heitkamp, and Wesley Clark, et alia) play out an immersive, fully-staged simulation in the White House Situation Room, as they are confronted by a coup launched by rogue elements within the U.S. military (one in five criminal defendants of the ’21 Capitol attack were military veterans). Collaborating with the non-partisan organization Vet Voice, directors Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber (FULL BATTLE RATTLE) expertly craft this credible nightmare — gaming out the unthinkable in a heartstopping race to save democracy.
2024 94 MIN. USA SUBMARINE DELUXE
Trailer
Reviews
“A must-watch. Chilling and engrossing… plays like a riveting political thriller. [It] has a terrific sense of urgency and apprehension; it’s so engrossing you’re often sucked into the doc, forgetting it’s just an elaborate fiction. It all feels frighteningly real.”
– Rodrigo Perez, The Playlist
“As engaging as it is though-provoking…A briskly paced, compelling docu-thriller perfectly timed for another hotly contentious election year in the United States.”
– Anthony Kaufman, IndieWire
“[An] excellent film…A political thriller in documentary form, Jesse Moss and Tony Gerber’s WAR GAME follows the narrative of this simulation, showing us the breathless back and forth of the fictional president (played by former Montana governor Steve Bullock) and his advisers, the constant news ‘updates’ (from a mock television channel created for the occasion), as well as the pretend insurrection leaders working overtime to inflame the situation, flooding the zone with social-media memes and ominous, threatening proclamations…The film gathers suspense not just from what it depicts but also what it evokes: Anyone who witnessed the events of the real January 6 will find their stomach in knots, though admittedly some of us have had our stomachs in knots for years now.”
– Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
