(Park City) January 6, 2025, United States. The president-elect sees with amazement his rival, narrowly beaten, calling on the armed forces to overturn the result of the presidential election, such is the scenario of the docufiction War Game which anticipates a new assault on the Capitol.
In reality, on January 6, 2021, it was not soldiers, but hundreds of supporters of former President Donald Trump who violently stormed the Capitol, seat of legislative power and sanctuary of American democracy, to protest the victory of his Democratic opponent Joe Biden.
Presented at the Sundance Independent Film Festival, War Game features former political and military leaders in an unscripted role-playing game imagining a new attack on the Capitol, an event that still haunts and divides Americans.
For its directors, the scenario is not so far-fetched, while the November election should see, barring any surprises, a return of the Trump-Biden match, and the former never stops talking about “revenge”.
“It’s terrifying how topical the film is,” says co-director Jesse Moss. “And I worry about how bad it might still be a year from now.” »
In the film, Steve Bullock, former governor of Montana, plays the role of a President of the United States who has six hours to decide how to respond to this attempted coup.
“For six hours, we all had a real experience,” says Steve Bullock. “It was a stressful environment, no one thought about the cameras being there. »
In the film, his advisors are American senators, federal police (FBI) and intelligence (CIA) agents, but also colonels and a former NATO commander.
Gathered in an operating room inspired by the cult film Dr Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick, they are caught between continuous information from the intelligence services, social networks and a television channel.
” Controversial subject “
At the same time, paramilitaries, played by former US veterans, are spreading disinformation online to encourage soldiers to break ranks.
This scene is inspired by a tribune of the Washington Post written by three US generals in 2021, warning of rising extremism in the military and calling for preparations for a possible insurrection after the 2024 election.
According to them, “a disturbing number of veterans and current military personnel took part in the assault on the Capitol.”
Vet Voice, a foundation representing U.S. military veterans and their families, agreed to let in cameras for the film and wrote a report for authorities.
The American administration’s only response was “thank you,” laughs Janessa Goldbeck, director of Vet Voice.
“A lot of people within the administration are working on this subject, but it is controversial,” because it is seen by some as a “lack of respect for our troops and our veterans,” she says.
“Very real threats”
If War Game uses fictional characters, it is difficult not to see the shadow of Donald Trump there.
The 77-year-old tycoon, the big favorite of the American right for the Republican nomination for the November election despite several lawsuits targeting him, is even mentioned in the film by two advisers.
They are discussing whether or not to invoke the law that allows the president to use federal troops to restore order in the face of an insurrection.
Criminally accused of conspiring to overturn the result of the 2020 election, Donald Trump has already hinted at a possible expansion of the role of the military in the United States if he wins a second term.
What led to January 6, 2021, from the extreme polarization of American society to “the alternative reality in which some seem to live”, however goes beyond Donald Trump, notes co-director Jesse Moss.
“But Trump is at the heart” of this movement, he adds. “The threats we depict in the film are serious, terrifying and very real.”