THE BITE OF WAR DOGS IS WORSE THAN ITSBARK
Based on an article in Rolling Stone, War Dogs explains how millions have been made in the arms trade in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere. When Dick Cheney arranged for no-bid contractor friends to cash in on both wars, there was an outcry. Accordingly, the Defense Department solicited thousands of bids on the Internet for all types of supplies from bullets to tanks. Somehow Efraim Diveroli (played by Jonah Hill) found out that almost anyone could make millions, and soon he asked his brother David Packouz (Miles Teller) to give up his job as masseur to join him in Miami. Thanks to director Todd Phillips, the film then shows how the business works, gets complicated and even dangerous, along with doublecrossing and many shady characters. When they find Chinese bullets in an Albanian warehouse, however, they risk arrest for supplying the federal government with proscribed merchandise, and the FBI gets hot on their trail. The Political Film Society, accordingly, has nominated War Dogs as best film exposé of 2016. MH
TWO MUST DECIDE THEIR FATE IN HELL OR HIGH WATER
The bank threatens to foreclose on a home occupied by a Texan’s sons and former wife. The economy has gone bust, no income stream is rolling in, so what does Toby Howard (played by Chris Pine) do? What can he do? Rather than becoming a millionaire as in 99 Homes (2015), Toby’s brother Tanner Howard (Ben Foster) has an idea: Rob the bank. In Billy-the-Kid style, they enter banks wearing masks, ask only for 10s and 20s, and then bury the vehicle used to carry out the perfect crime. But Texas Ranger Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) wants to carry out the perfect capture. Accompanied by Texas music and humor, though filmed in New Mexico, the cops are a step behind the robbers until the fourth bank robbery, when they lie in wait for a repeat performance. Then the robbers appear to outsmart the cops, but the suspense turns into a fascinating climax for each of the brothers and the Ranger, too. Director David Mackenzie selects a hackneyed, inappropriate title, however. MH
THE PEOPLE VS FRITZ BAUER REVEALS HOW EICHMANN WAS CAUGHT
Dr. Fritz Bauer (played by Burghart Klaussner), Attorney General of the West German state of Hesse, was determined to put Nazi war criminals on trial but was opposed by many former Nazi employees who held positions in the government of Konrad Adenauer. He particularly wanted to put Adolf Eichmann (Michael Schenk) on trial in Frankfurt, but instead he was captured by the Mossad and tried in Israel. Director Lars Kraume reveals what happened, a secret not revealed until 1978, ten years after Bauer’s death, as he provided information to Mossad in violation of German law, which then would have been an act of treason. Most of the film depicts the intrigue surrounding his efforts, including the deal made by Germany to allow the trial in Israel despite Bauer’s hope that the new Germany would shed the Nazi past. Nevertheless, as the film ends, Bauer launches a prosecution of those responsible at Auschwitz that served the same purpose. A subplot involving a subordinate prosecutor evidently is fictional, as titles at the end say nothing about him. The dramatic story merits a Political Film Society nomination of The People vs Fritz Bauer for best film exposé of 2016. MH