The Pentagon is unhappy with Kathryn Bigelow’s depiction of the United States’ missile defense system in her new film on Netflix, A House of Dynamite.
The thriller tracks the 18 minutes that follow a nuclear missile being launched at the U.S. as officials race to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
At one point in the film, the defense secretary, played by Jared Harris, complains that current missile defenses have a 50 percent chance of intercepting a missile despite their $50 billion price tag.
In an internal memorandum from the Missile Defense Agency obtained by Bloomberg and dated October 16, the agency states that while the film “highlights that deterrence can fail, which reinforces the need for an active homeland missile defense system,” its fictional depiction also downplays US capabilities.
“The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,” but results from real-world testing “tell a vastly different story,” the memo reportedly states.
The MDA adds that Harris’s character’s 50 percent claim is based on earlier prototypes and today’s interceptors “have displayed a 100% accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade.”
Another character in the film, the deputy national security adviser played by Gabriel Basso, puts the figure at 61 percent. “That’s based on data from controlled tests,” the movie’s screenwriter Noah Oppenheim told The Atlantic. “So, you can imagine, those are under the best of circumstances. A lot of the folks we talked to felt that 61 percent was being very generous when it comes to the system that we have. As we mention in the movie, there are fewer than 50 of these ground-based intercepts in our arsenal, so even if it were working perfectly, there are not a ton of them that we have available to use.”
The Independent has contacted the Pentagon for comment.
In a statement to Bloomberg News, the Pentagon said that it wasn’t consulted for the film, which “does not reflect the views or priorities of this administration.” The system “remains a critical component of our national defense strategy, ensuring the safety and security of the American people and our allies.”
A representative for Bigelow directed Bloomberg to her remarks on CBS’s Sunday Morning, in which she confirmed she did not seek consultation from the Pentagon.
“I felt that we needed to be more independent,” she told CBS. “But that being said, we had multiple tech advisers who have worked in the Pentagon. They were with me every day we shot.”
After a limited theatrical release, A House of Dynamite arrived on Netflix on Friday, drawing mixed reviews from viewers — many of whom were not fans of the ending.
Despite the complaints, the film has a critics’ score of 79 percent on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes at the time of writing.
In a four-star review for The Independent, Geoffrey Macnab called it “the most entertaining movie about mass destruction since Dr Strangelove.”
“Seventeen years ago, Bigelow became the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director for The Hurt Locker (2008). Whether or not she accomplishes a similar feat with A House of Dynamite – becoming the first woman to win two – this new feature shows that when it comes to intelligent, adrenaline-filled drama, she is still out there on her own.”
A House of Dynamite is out now on Netflix.
