Have you seen War, Inc?

As the typical Gen X gal that I am, I have a big appreciation for the actor John Cusack. I grew up with him through the geeking out in 16 Candles, the teenage angst of Better Off Dead, the first love of Say Anything, the jaded alienation of Grosse Point Blank, and the 30-something disaffection of High Fidelity. (I can't say I've ever experienced the insanity of Being John Malkovich, but there's still time.)

So you can imagine I am quite pleased to see that Cusack is also an advocate for many causes that I support. At the National Conference for Media Reform last month, Cusack greeted the crowd by video saying how much he appreciates the work of the activists and journalists that are working to keep the media and our government honest.

Cusack recently wrote, produced, and starred in the film War, Inc. It's a fictional satire inspired by the all-too-real American imperialism of the past decade. In fact, it was partially inspired by "Bagdad Year Zero," a seminal article by Naomi Klein about the economics of the US invasion. I can tell from Wikipedia's description that it is right up my alley:

War Inc. is set in the future, when the fictional desert country of Turaqistan is torn by a riot after a private corporation, Tamerlane, owned by the former Vice President of the United States, has taken over the whole state. Brand Hauser, a hit man who suppresses his emotions by gobbling down hot sauce, is hired by the corporation's head to kill the CEO of their competitors. To do this, he has to have a cover-up which is in the form of a gala wedding by the outrageous Central Asian Superstar Yonica Babyyeah.

... then it gets to the predictable Hollywood romance with "a sexy reporter" and I lose interest. But anyway, The Nation described War, Inc. as "sort of like this generation's Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange and The Wizard of Oz mixed with the un-embedded reporting of Naomi Klein and spiced with a dash of South Park. It is a powerful, visionary response to the cheerleading culture of the corporate media and a pliant Hollywood afraid of its own shadow." Here's the requisite YouTube clip:

It even has Ben Kingsley - I tell you this movie was made for me! Since I live in North Carolina, I'm not sure whether War, Inc. will make it to a theater near me. I will be looking for it when I am in New York City next week. If you get to see it, please let me know what you think!