Harvard Kennedy School Hosts Screening, Panel Discussion About ‘War Game’

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy hosted a screening on Tuesday of the movie “War Game” as a part of their film series.

War Game is an “elaborate future-set simulation that dramatically escalates the threat posed by the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection,” depicting what could happen if another, more severe insurrection were to occur in 2025, according to the event’s description.

The screening consisted of a showing of the film followed by a panel discussion featuring two creators of the film, a participant, and an HKS national security fellow. The discussion was moderated by Bethany Russell, a master’s in public policy student at the school.

The conversation opened with a reflection on the role of partisanship and media in the political process and in the making of the film in particular.

“It’s crazy that the peaceful transfer of power is a partisan issue,” said Jonathan E. Steinberg ’97, who served as the film’s executive producer.

Tony Gerber, who co-directed “War Game,” discussed efforts to screen the film in more red and purple states.

“MAGA folks would perhaps see this as an act of partisanship” he said. “I don’t know — to answer your question — if we are just preaching to the choir or if we’ve changed minds.”

Their ultimate goal “wasn’t about telling folks what to think or to feel or certainly not how to vote, but how to generate conversation,” Gerber added.

The filmmakers said “War Game” was bipartisan in nature, mentioning former President Donald Trump very few times. Gerber compared Trump to the shark in Jaws.

“It’s a thriller, in the sense that, you know, the monster is only there for maybe five or six minutes, but the audience carries him through every frame of the movie,” he said.

Retired Major General Linda L. Singh, a documentary game participant and panelist, pointed out the risks posed by extremism within the military.

“I think the problem from the military perspective, is one gets through the door, that’s one too many,” she said, comparing extremism to issues like suicide and sexual assault.

Lt. Col. John “JD” DeMello, a national security fellow at HKS, discussed the unclear definition of what it means to be an extremist, and racial tensions that lead to extremism.

“During World War II, there was significant anti-Japanese hatred within the military — open hatred. You saw that after Vietnam. You saw that after September 11 — a large amount of folks that were angry, whether because they saw people that died in theater or saw the twin towers fall,” he said.

“Question is, is that extremism? And if it is, it’s very challenging,” he said.

Maggie A. Gates, the executive director of the Carr Center, said that the most important takeaway from the film is “how real the threat is.” She said while the Carr Center had been in conversations with the production company since the spring, they intentionally wanted to screen the movie close to the election.

“People are not aware of how widespread the targeting of misinformation and sort of the propaganda is around military and law enforcement in the United States, and how vulnerable people are to that misinformation,” Gates added.

Singh also said that it will be essential for Americans to move past the election results to ensure that there is a peaceful transfer of power over the coming months.

“We have to put it on ourselves to figure out how we are going to recover from whatever is going to happen next week,” she said.

“It doesn't matter which way it goes,” she added. “We’re going to have to figure out how we recover from that and how we heal.”