Docuganda
DC 9/11 is a made-for-cable reenactment-cum-revision of the president's response to the 9/11 attacks, with That's My Bush! star Timothy Bottoms reprising his role as W. but in a more stoic and heroic mold. (For those of you who didn't see That's My Bush!, this is a bit like Chevy Chase suddenly portraying a wise Jerry Ford in full command of his motor skills.) J. Hoberman's sharp review of the film puts it into a larger context of political propaganda, ranging from mid-century Stalinist dramas to the Clintonite wish-fulfillment fantasy The West Wing. He also gets off some great lines, like this one:
As played by Penny Johnson Jerald, the president's ex-wife on the Fox series 24, Condi is a sort of super-intelligent poodle—dogging her master's steps, gazing into his eyes with rapt adoration.
And this:
The turgid DC 9/11 would doubtless have been more entertaining with Harrison Ford or Arnold Schwarzenegger or even Ronald Reagan in the role of the president.
