[Do You Know What a Lobbyist Is?] Miss Sloane [Impressions & Review]
Hello!
Today I thought I’d review this one, which came out on rental in April 2018!
Let me get this in first — this film, you have to see it!! You really do!!
Contents
Story
Elizabeth Sloane is a political lobbyist so capable that the lobbying world holds her in something close to awe. Every job she has taken on, she has carried to success. Then one particular job puts her at odds with the rifle industry. In a fight against a formidable opponent with overwhelming financial power, Sloane presses forward at any cost, and a ferocious counterattack comes back at her—
From Wikipedia
What a lobbyist is
Lobbying is private political activity carried out by an individual or a group holding a particular position, with the aim of influencing government policy. In Japanese the word is also written in a couple of other katakana spellings. Its targets are members of the legislature, members of the government, public officials and so on. A private individual or group that carries out lobbying is called a lobbyist. And the repeated movement back and forth between government and private business is called the revolving door.
From Wikipedia
In short — professionals of political strategy
Impressions & review
Like 3 Idiots, the story moves along while going back and forth between past and present.
The way every bit of setup gets paid off at the end gave me goosebumps.
A film that puts the job of lobbyist in focus is a rare thing.
Coming out of it, I thought it felt a lot like Bull, the show starring Michael Weatherly lol
Fresh to Japanese eyes
I think this is something most Japanese people have in common, but we don’t take a deep interest in laws being made, I think.
Even with a law that looks like it will hit our own lives directly, I think we often just let the current carry us, or take the indifferent attitude of “go ahead and pass it without me.”
And then there’s watching the protest groups that turn up at the National Diet Building and going “ah, at it again” — surely we believe that deciding the law is the job of people in government and that there’s no need for us to step in. But Americans, as you can see from watching this film, are a public that takes an interest in politics, and because of that legislators act in ways that will keep them in their seats.
And a private group like a lobbying outfit moving the government so that it benefits some company — from a Japanese sense of things, that must feel “impossible”. But in America debates between lobbyists get reported in the news, so you can see they’re an accepted presence.
I think this film lets you really enjoy that cultural difference in attitudes to politics between Americans and Japanese!
Also the level of the debating is high, I thought lol
A gun society
Put crudely, the reason gun control still hasn’t happened in America is because it’s written into the Constitution. And it’s the second one in, at that.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
An article added in 1791, four years after the Constitution was enacted in 1787. It reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” https://kotobank.jp/word/%E5%90%88%E8%A1%86%E5%9B%BD%E6%86%B2%E6%B3%95%E4%BF%AE%E6%AD%A3%E7%AC%AC2%E6%9D%A1-883016
A magnetic lead
Jessica Chastain, who was also in Interstellar.
She was so cool~!
She’s seriously sharp, and her professional instinct as a lobbyist was off the scale.
The level of the conversation in the film was high too, and the lines were quotable one after another.
Play your trump card only after your opponent has played theirs.
A lobbyist anticipates, always.
Merlin from Kingsman
Mark Strong, who played Merlin in Kingsman, was cool as well.
