A movie from 1999, Deterrence, written and directed by Rod Lurie, is a remarkable piece of writing and acting and directing. It was created on a shoestring budget as the first film by this writer/director.
This is an intelligently written screenplay, displaying the rare quality of moral intransigence and moral clarity in the face of a military emergency. The context is a fictional attack by Iraq on Kuwait and Saudi Arabia that kills hundreds of Americans. I cannot think of any movie or play ever written that deals so clearly with the issue of America’s moral right to protect itself and decimate vicious enemies. It also presents the importance of a leader having a strategic mind and having a foreign policy background (crucial for being a good commander-in-chief).
All the more remarkable is that the ideas presented were dramatized in 1999, well before the massive attack against us in 2001.
The American director/screenwriter is a graduate of West Point, which may help explain his clarity in presenting such a story.
Available on Prime.
(The movie also has a strong relevance to our grim 20th anniversary today of the attack on America.)
/sb
