Talk about newsworthy.
With British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit plans running up against vast Parliamentary opposition, chaos beckons for the United Kingdom. I’m based in London and this topic’s on everyone’s lips right now. After the March 29th Article 50 deadline passes, will we leave without a deal and commit economic suicide, including food and drug shortages? Will be end up as a vassal state, subject to EU regulations but unable to influence them? Will Brexit just not happen at all?
Nobody knows. Which is why it’s a smart and timely moment for HBO to drop the trailer for Brexit, which is going to try and show us how we got into this mess in the first place. Benedict Cumberbatch plays Dominic Cummings, one of the chief architects of the campaign to leave the European Union. Ever since the referendum, there’s been a slow trickle of news about shady business revolving around him, which has resulted in investigations by the Electoral Commission.
Much of this is related to their use of incredibly shady data firm Cambridge Analytica, a relationship that this trailer teases. It also looks like we’re going to explore the way Leave harnessed xenophobia and racism in British society, promising that exiting the European Union would result in more jobs, higher wages, more money for the NHS and a strengthened economy (suffice to say, this isn’t happening).
The trailer also gives us a look at other prominent Brexit figures. These include Lee Boardman’s Arron Banks, who’s suspected of funneling money from the Russian government into Leave, Richard Goulding’s bumbling oaf Boris Johnson (somehow looking less ridiculous than the real Boris) and Oliver Altman’s slimy, evil backstabbing bastard Michael Gove.
Set for release on HBO on January 19th, Brexit is destined to be a hot-button release, and that date means it’ll land at around the time the final vote is scheduled on whether Parliament will accept Theresa May’s deal. While other movies have a chance of featuring more literal explosions, it’s difficult to think of anything else coming out that has the potential of being this explosive and I, for one, can’t wait.
