Film Forum

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

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 thought-provoking…A briskly paced, compelling docu-thriller perfectly timed for another hotly contentious election year in the United States.”
– Anthony Kaufman, Screen Daily

“[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

“Chilling. Non-fiction nightmare fuel… Its analysis of our military’s extremist elements is unnervingly persuasive… It serves as an urgent warning about the fact that the barbarians are at the gates, that we may be ill-equipped to recognize them until it’s too late, and that it’s increasingly apparent that the United States isn’t immune from being torn asunder by destabilizing forces cultivated right in its own backyard.”
– Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“The set-up is detailed, serious, and all too believable…All of the participants have broad and deep experience, and it’s fascinating to see them work through their options…It is sobering to learn that the people who put the exercise together are veterans whose own experience in the military made them deeply concerned about the threat from inside.”
– Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com