The Pentagon has issued a rare statement about Netflix’s new thriller A House of Dynamite, saying there are several inaccuracies, and the film gives a misleading picture of America’s missile defense system.
Directed by Kathryn Bigelow, the film follows the frantic 18 minutes after a nuclear missile is launched at the United States. Inside the White House, officials scramble to figure out who’s responsible, and whether they can stop it in time.
Credit: Netflix
At one point, Jared Harris, who plays the US defense secretary, claims that the country’s missile defense system only has a “50 per cent chance” of intercepting an incoming nuke, despite its $50 billion price tag. It’s a striking moment in the film, and one that the Pentagon apparently didn’t appreciate.
According to an internal memo from the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) obtained by Bloomberg, the agency says the movie “highlights that deterrence can fail”, but also “downplays US capabilities”.
In other words, they think the film makes the US military look less capable than it actually is: “The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target, and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama, but results from real-world testing tell a vastly different story.”
The agency added that while earlier prototypes had mixed results, today’s interceptors “have displayed a 100 per cent accuracy rate in testing for more than a decade”.
Credit: Netflix
Screenwriter Noah Oppenheim told The Atlantic that the film’s numbers were based on real test data, and that even the 61 per cent success rate cited by another character, played by Gabriel Basso, was “being very generous”. He also pointed out that there are fewer than 50 of these interceptors in total, meaning the US doesn’t have many to rely on even if they did work perfectly.
In a statement to Bloomberg News, the Pentagon said it was not consulted about the film and that it “does not reflect the views or priorities of this administration”. It added that the missile defense system “remains a critical component of our national defense strategy, ensuring the safety and security of the American people and our allies”.
Essentially, A House of Dynamite isn’t pretending to be a documentary, but the Pentagon still wants people to know that its real-life missile system is much better than the one Netflix is showing.
On CBS’s Sunday Morning, the director said that she didn’t speak to the Pentagon before making the show.
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Featured image credit: Netflix
