October 16, 2004 -- The raunchy puppet comedy “Team America: World Police” is a satire aimed both at Hollywood and at politicians. Although it seems to be aimed at both sides of the political spectrum, it hits the left a lot harder than it hits the right. Hardest hit of all is Ben Affleck. The movie attacks Affleck relentlessly, but the filmmakers clearly hate the blockbuster hit movie “Pearl Harbor” most of all. There's even a song in the movie blasting both Affleck and “Pearl Harbor,” a movie which Affleck starred in. The movie's soundtrack is loaded with funny songs, many of them written by two of the film's writers, Trey Parker (who directs the film) and Matt Stone, the creators the popular “South Park” cartoon series.

The plot concerns an attempt by terrorists to destroy civilization with an insidious plot involving the unwitting cooperation of a number of pacifist Hollywood stars including Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn, Alec Baldwin, Janeane Garofalo and Affleck. The Hollywood stars are part of a union called the Film Actor's Guild, or FAG (instead of the Screen Actor's Guild (or SAG). This gay-bashing acronym is used often in the film. As one point in the film, these politically-active stars are called pussies, and that term does not refer to cats, although that musical is also mentioned in the movie. Based on the gay-rape story about the musical “Cats” it appears Parker and Stone don't like musicals or cats, either. There is also a scene in the movie when a couple of house cats are shown attacking and eating people.

There is a two-minute speech in the movie in which Stone and Parker sum up their entire political theory about foreign policy using colorful Anglo-Saxon terms for sexual intercourse, vaginas, penises and anuses. What's fascinating is this short, vulgar speech manages to capture Bush Administration's Iraq policy in a more compelling way than President Bush has been able to manage so far. The speech, however, lacks nuance and is heavy on the kind of simplistic macho chauvinism more typical of post-Nixon Republicans than post-Vietnam Democrats.

If there is any political message in the film, it seems to be reactionary. It is not so much that Parker and Stone have all that much to say about politics. They simply seem to be expressing their resentment that other Hollywood types are taking a liberal political stance. Right-leaning Hollywood actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger, Charleton Heston, Clint Eastwood, and Iraq war supporters like Dennis Miller are notably absent in the film, and are immune from criticism. And, of course, Parker and Stone really, really hate Ben Affleck. They also don't like Michael Moore (director of “Fahrenheit 9/11” and “Bowling for Columbine.” Moore is portrayed in the film as a sort of socialist suicide bomber.

It seems pretty clear to me that Parker and Stone are on the conservative side of politics. Their criticism of actors and directors who are social activists is exactly the same as the comments you hear from plain-spoken Republicans. It is simply this: if you are a famous performer (like the Dixie Chicks, for instance) then you are allowed to express political opinions only when they are exactly what Republicans want to hear. Deviate from the party line and your songs will be banned from the radio and you will be booed off stage. The tactics of ridicule and intimidation have been employed by Republicans consistently for the past 11 years. Parker and Stone's ridicule of left-wing actors in this film is exactly the same.

Parker and Stone seem to be arguing that you shouldn't listen to Michael Moore on the topic of politics, because he's just a movie director. On the other hand, you should listen to Parker and Stone about politics because they are just movie directors, too. If you buy that argument, you deserve the government others will vote into power on your behalf (if you follow Parker and Stone's sage political advice and don't bother voting). I disagree with critic Roger Ebert who says this is a film promoting nihilism. If it was nihilistic, the film would be throwing hard shots at both the right and the left. The attacks are too one-sided to be truly nihilistic. Also, if fans of Parker and Stone follow their advice and don't vote, that favors the Republicans. Their advice is right in line with national Republican strategies to disenfranchise those not likely to vote for Republicans.

The softball lobs toward the right come early on in the film when Team America attacks some suspected terrorists in Paris. The team nonchalantly destroys half of Paris, including the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower while killing the suspected terrorists, along with a number of civilians. This scene could be taken as a criticism of the “Ugly Americans” blundering around in foreign countries, like Iraq, destroying lots of property and killing many civilians, ostensibly for altruistic reasons. Team America, a sort of Mission Impossible kind of elite paramilitary team, seems to be represent American militarism in the film. During the vulgar speech mentioned earlier, Parker and Stone simply say that sometimes military action is needed to stop bad guys and sometimes military action is inappropriate. Well, duh! I guess you can't expect deep analysis in a two-minute speech. But they are very clear about one thing. They hate Ben Affleck and the movie “Pearl Harbor.”

This film originally had an NC-17 rating, which was reduced to an “R” rating after some judicious editing. The film has scenes of oral sex and puppet intercourse in numerous positions. The film also has a great deal of profanity in it. This is not surprising. Parker and Stone do like to push the boundaries of what is allowed in film, as they did in their South Park movie. I suspect that is why puppets are used. With puppets, you can get away with more. Parker and Stone could not have gotten away with a fraction of what they got on the screen if real actors had been used instead of puppets. The puppets are also intentionally cheesy-looking. Some have strings, some do not. The film's puppeteers used animatronic controls to give the puppets realistic-looking expressions. At other times the puppets clumsy movements, particularly in fight scenes, are hilarious. Cheap-looking special effects are also used to effectively satirize action movies.

The best part of the movie, however, is the music. Parker and Stone wrote some hilarious music for the film, including the song about Affleck, Cuba Gooding Jr. and how much they hate “Pearl Harbor,” a song about montages sung during a military training montage, a country western political song and a show-stopping number about loneliness sung by the Korean dictator Kim Jong-il puppet. That song is haunting, touching and uproariously funny, all at the same time. Parker and Stone, along with Pam Brady (who helped write the script) have to be praised for their creativity in making this outrageously vulgar movie. It is the funniest political satire I've seen in a long time. It would have been great if it had anything interesting to say about politics, but it doesn't. It is content with name-calling. It is much more successful as a satire of action movies. That makes sense. Parker and Stone clearly know a lot more about making movies than they do about politics. It very cleverly skewers a number of action movie clichés. If you can get past all the vulgarity, it is certainly an enjoyable, if shallow, film. It rates a B.

With its juvenile humor and simplistic satire, this film is aimed directly at teen audiences. Look for inflated “Shark Tale” box office figures this week as teens buy tickets for the PG-rated “Shark Tale” and use those tickets to sneak into R-rated “Team America” screenings. This film should do very well in the DVD market. In that market, it can finally hit its prime sub-18 teen audience. It will probably never make as much money as “Pearl Harbor” did, though.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2004 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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