The Second Civil War

source: The Second Civil War

The Second Civil War

Though not a 100% spoof in the Airplane! league, this film is quite ridiculous in it's own way. It hits more targets than it misses, and it has some truly wonderful moments. By no means a 'must see' it is nonetheless a useful waste of time.

I think you need to be an American to fully understand the satire at play here. This is a spoof of American politics, government and the hypocrisy of the news media. While Wag the Dog gave us a numbing account of how the media can shape public opinion, the Second Civil War only shows how inept the government and media organizations are. Isn't it frightening if the movie a portent to how political life will shape out in the future? I didn't find the movie funny in any way, nor is that any real message for us to learn.

If Joe Dante was Inferno's king, I'd like to go there… seriously, this guy is a dangerous terrorist who can't help destroying from the inside every convention, every cliché in the book, like some offspring of Tom Robbins and Roger Corman meeting on Rabelais' grave.(See what he did with "Small Soldiers" : an anti-militarist toys movie made to sell militarist toys !) Here he destroys everything that propaganda movies like "Top Gun" has been doing for a while - and, like our Italian friend up there judiciously pointed out, this one is too close to the bone to be taken just as comedy - it might better be described as "satire". This one wasn't theatrically released in France, unlike in Italy, but played on a film festival called "Les inédits d'Amérique"

This movie raises a number of excellent points about retaining ethnic identities in a world of melting point political rectitude gone wild. It shows that every ethnic group in the WORLD has formed a special interest political faction in the US, but when the citizens in Idaho say, enough, we like our OWN national identity, war is declared. A number of GREAT quotes and sound bites! Overall plot edgy and unpredictable. Played for a few laughs, but all in all quite a serious treatment of this issue, even more relevant today (2005) than it was when issued. It must be seen in the context of what was going on at the time, specifically, the later half of the Clinton presidency. A blatant ripoff of the ideas in "The Turner Diaries", right down to using the same states and caricatures of certain ethnic groups, without, of course, giving any credit to the original material, but well worth watching, and a worthy companion piece to the book.

Having looked back thorough Joe Dante's work I came upon this film, obviously I had to illegally download it, then watched it. Based in a CNN type newsroom, a story begins to brake about the governors of Idaho closing it's border to the rest of America. A loosed brained President then plans to send it the National Guard, to invade the state. James Earl Jones has a great part as a reporter, as does Dennis Leary. Credit must really go to Kevin Dunn playing the Governors right-hand man. Congratulations as well go to Robert Picado, hidden name and small role. Americans of voting age. See this film to observe what President Trump's would be like (Red Dawn too).

Loved it when it was first released, but now (2004) it seems amazing just how prophetic it was. The effects of overwhelming immigration into the U.S., and the hopeless ineptitude of the government, are themes that are more and more apparent as the years go by. Topical comedy usually has a short life, seen a few years later it often loses its comic impact, but this one hasn't lost a thing when seen today. It has the rare quality of being both comic and profoundly serious. Like most people, I only have a few that I can give a "10", but this is one of the few.

A funny, old-fashioned political farce set in an up-to-the-minute situation. An aggressive woman who heads an organization to "save the children" plans to move Pakistani orphans to Idaho. The governor of that state (Beau Bridges) decides to play to anti-immigrant sentiment by saying he will close the borders against further immigration. The American President (Phil Hartman) is a simpleton who managed by his political adviser (James Coburn). They're only interested in re-election, and are perfectly willing to resort to civil war to make it happen. A CNN-like news organization, "NN", which employs a rainbow of immigrants, and whose announcer is James Earl Jones, plays the potential conflict for all the advertising dollars it's worth. The governor (Beau Bridges) is really much more interested in his affair with a Mexican American reporter for "NN", and she seems to be the only person aware of the irony.

Talk about biting political satire that's probably the most effective thing since Wag the Dog. There's this made for HBO film that came out in 1997 titled The Second Civil War. Like many of the decent films of that decade, it takes shots at all sides (it might lean a little more to the left than the right, but only a little, which is quite refreshing), takes aim at politicians and the media, and begs the question at how good of an idea the Melting Pot and forced immigration really is (it tackles those issues in more directions than you're used to). And it ends on a somewhat dreary (yet provides a decent last laugh) note that doesn't provide any answers, at least no easy ones, leaving it up to the viewer to ponder. God I miss the days when they wouldn't bash a blunt message over your head.