Bob Roberts

Dir: Tim Robbins. US. 1992

Tim Robbins (image: Andy Carvin Flickr CC)

“Don’t smoke crack. It’s a ghetto drug.”

A sly, clever mockumentary about a corrupt, money-grubbing country-music star on the Senate campaign trail.

There’s a depressing irony to watching this film, 15 years after its release, when pretty much all of its warnings have not only been ignored but are unfolding around us.  Gore Vidal’s tale of the frog that lets itself be boiled alive because it doesn’t notice the gradual warming of the water in the pot (a quirky metaphor for how easily we let situations get out of hand) is, unfortunately, all too true in a period when we’re giving up our civil liberties in the name of patriotism.

Aside from the unsettling resonance with our current global political situation, this is funny and beautifully put together.  Using country music to drive each spiteful, fascist, point home could have backfired if the tracks hadn’t been strong.  As it is, the contrast between the faux smiles during the sing-along, the poisonous lyrics and the dead-eyed stares of Bob Roberts’ campaign team has (as his opponent says) ‘a whiff of sulphur’ about it – devilish genius.

Political satire doesn’t get funnier or bleaker than this.

Rated: 4/5
IMDb entry