Sojourn of Ben

Wag the Dog is a film on the influence of a secret political strategist/consultant on a presidential election.

In order to put a halt on a sex scandal in the White House (sound familiar?) and save the presidents chances of re-election, the White House hires a secret political strategist/consultant to rectify the situation. The consultant, Conrad Brean (Robert DiNero) decides that in order for the president to be re-elected, they need to create a fake war to rally Americans behind the president and America. The team went as far as to "film" an "Albanian attack."

There was a particular emphasis on music in this film. They create a song (in the movie) that is full of freedom "bullpuppies." This song was supposed to get Americans to be all patriotic and stuff. Then, when the CIA ends the war on Albania prematurely, the political team creates a song that becomes the theme song of a "soldier left behind." The music in that was created in the movie is used to influence the public. They make a song called "Good 'Ol Shoe" to symbolize the soldier left behind. This influences the public to put all these shoes into the trees around the country.

Camera angles are used in this film to empower the people the camera is looking at. When we look up at Robert DiNero's character before he has the film producer Stanley Motss (Dustin Hoffman) killed, wensee that ultimately, Conrad Brean is the all powerful influence on everything political. The angle looks up at Brean through the window.