DC Trilogy Gives Global Perspective on American Themes

The genre of “independent cinema” has recently become somewhat of a misnomer, vaguely used to label films with gritty 16mm shots, edgy music, and a very superficial exploration of supposedly taboo subjects. That said, a special director’s screening of the DC Trilogy at the School of International and Public Affairs last Monday represented true independent cinema at its finest.

Shot in August 2007 by Washington-based filmmakers Dan Boylan and Guy Taylor, the DC Trilogy is composed of a comedy, a thriller, and a tragedy: respectively, A Free Radical, Classified, and Moment of Silence. While one cannot walk away from the DC Trilogy without considering the serious issues it addresses, to call these films merely political would be to belittle their artistic and entertainment value.

Although Boylan and Taylor are not yet well known outside of Washington, A Free Radical will screen at Cannes next month. The comedy follows idiot terrorist Nib Nedal through his slapstick (but very poignant) adventures, from a failed assassination attempt in Washington to his exploits in South America. Rather than making the audience uncomfortable—certainly a risk for a comedy about terrorism—A Free Radical’s pseudo-philosophical and comedic dialogue illustrates the idiocy on both sides of the War on Terror.

The thriller of the DC Trilogy, Classified uses a different sort of cinematic language. Evoking both Hitchcock and the corporate landscapes of classic films of the 1970s, Classified plays like a feverish dream. The main character, a White House insider, comes across information that America might soon “strike first” again, undertaking yet another war. While the doctrine of preemptive strike is not a new theme in recent cinema, Classified effectively expresses a sense of inevitability and dread, leaving the audience vulnerable to any political possibility.

The trilogy’s final film, Moment of Silence, follows an Army officer, returning to his wife after a tour of duty, and his subsequent struggles with post-traumatic stress. These themes also feel familiar—the issue of injured veterans is frequently bandied around in anti-war debate—but Moment of Silence adopts a powerful new stance on its subject, for it doesn’t seek to rationalize or even justify the feelings it evokes.

Prior to filming the DC Trilogy, the directors served as foreign correspondents in over 50 countries, and they therefore provide a global vantage point on issues that Americans tend to view in domestic terms. Transcending both the liberal and the conservative perspective, these films have a uniquely American feel.