What I Watched -- The Hunting Party

This movie was not at all what I expected. I judged the movie by its title. Let that be a lesson to you.

What I expected was some Victorian drama which included a gaggle of basset hounds. No dice. Instead, I got a trio of in-over-their-heads journalists out for some vigilante justice in the wake of the Serbian genocide. Not a bad trade actually, once you make the adjustment to the totally different genre.

Richard Gere and Terrence Howard are former partners (reporter and cameraman, respectively), who reunite - joined by an intern played by Jesse Eisenberg - with the hare-brained idea of bringing one of the world's most hated and elusive war criminals to justice in the years following the breakup of Yugoslavia. Nothing, needless to say, goes as planned. It's sort of a modern day comedy of errors.

Eisenberg and Gere actually do a great job in their respective roles. Richard Gere is just crazy enough to make you think he might really be crazy - until you learn the back story. Eisenberg plays his character with a Michael Cera-like innocence, except with slightly less boyish dopiness and slightly more adult wit. It works.

What did not work in the movie was the weird combination of humor and horror and politics. This movie addresses the atrocities of a genocide, for Pete's sake. (Who's Pete?) For example:

Boris (UN official): "It took me months to gain the trust of certain people who normally would be protecting the Fox. That's how I know you didn't just stumble on the fact he's up in Celibici."
Duck (Cameraman): "Well, it's been printed in the press."
Boris: "So are the horoscopes. Do you believe them?"
Duck: "You're not making any sense now."
Boris: "I know. I'm the United Nations."

So, it totally doesn't fit together. The whole thing seems very discordant. Except you know what the weird thing about it is? It's true. It's a true story - or based on one, anyway. I guess sometimes life doesn't fit together, and seems all discordant. Sometimes we have to laugh, or else we would just cry.

Anyway, the real experience happened to a group of journalists, one of whom wrote about the experience for Variety in an essay entitled "What I Did on My Summer Vacation." The article is available online in full, and is worth a read.

Bottom line: entertaining if you think it's fiction. Even more interesting if you know it's mostly fact. A decent film which, however oddly, takes a semi-serious look at an oft-overlooked political disaster.