The US-Iran War: Recommended Viewing

As of writing we have reached Day 69 (wehay!) of the US' illegal war with Iran. At the outset of the war I anxiously followed the news day by day, albeit for selfish reasons, I'm currently scheduled to travel to Italy via Bahrain at the end of June. I voraciously absorbed every headline, listened to hours of podcasts, flipping between Sky News, CNN, Al Jazeera, and... if I wanted a laugh... Fox News. I obsessed over the news cycles trying to makes sense of our global predicament, to understand why a mad man took the actions he did. After hours of media engagement... I have no clue. So I comforted myself in film and TV.

Here is a modest list of films and TV shows that gave me a glimmer of insight into whats going on.

1. Wag The Dog (1997)

Directed by Barry Levinson, Wag The Dog depicts the machinations of White House staffers, played by Robert DeNiro and Anne Heche, to create a fictitious war against Armenia in order to distract the public attention away from a presidential sex scandal involving an underage girl scout, with an upcoming election looming weeks away. The Staffers hire the services of a veteran Hollywood producer played by Dustin Hoffman, channeling the look, spirit and sunglasses of The Godfather (1972) producer Robert Evans.

A brilliant satire and perhaps a looking glass at the future of news media and the attention economy. It preceded the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal by one month. Eight months later the Clinton administration would bomb Sudan, bringing the film back into the news spotlight.

Why is this film relevant? A majority of people believe that Trump attacked Iran as a diversionary tactic to draw attention away from his mentions in the Epstein files as the midterm elections are approaching. And journalists are of course comparing Trumps actions with the film.

2. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000)

As you've probably noticed by my profile picture I am a huge Larry David fan! Curb Your Enthusiasm is HBO's long running sitcom following a fictionalised version of Larry David as he blunders, stumbles and smashes his way through social niceities, taboos, and common convention. A modern day prophet of mundane curmudgeony.

If you have to watch one episode it's "Palestinian Chicken" (Season 8, Episode 3) where Larry, being a non-religious Jew, dates a Palestinian woman and subsequently gets caught in the middle of culture clash between a Palestinian Chicken shop and a Jewish deli, an obvious allusion to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This is frequently cited as one of the best episodes of the entire series, and also happens to be one of my personal favourites with one of the best lines in TV, "Fuck me like Israel fucks my people!".

If you have time to spare consider bingeing Season 9, where Larry writes a musical, aptly titled "Fatwa!", and inevitably has a fatwa issued against him by the Ayatollah. Guest stars include famously fatwa'd author, Salman (Salmon) Rushdie, Tony Award winner Lin Manuel Miranda, and Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham. I only wish that Fatwa! was made into an actual Broadway musical!

Why is this show relevant? Eh... I'll be honest... it's not entirely relevant to what's going on now, but it's worth the laugh!

3. Persepolis (2007)

Persepolis is the animated adaptation of the graphic novel of the same title, Persepolis, the memoir of author Marjane Satrapi. It chronicles the author's childhood, adolescence, and adulthood when she lives in Iran pre and post the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

A gorgeously animated French production which Satrapi also co-directed, it is both funny, heart breaking, and overflowing with pathos. I don't want to spoil the film for you, if you have to choose one piece of media to watch from this list, choose this one!

Why is this film relevant? The film gives a street level glimpse into life in Iran, how civilians were lead to protest an oppressive regime this year, and to the Iranian diaspora.

What pieces of media have given you comfort in these confusing times?