The Brink of War: What Reagan and Gorbachev can teach leaders amid the Iran war

The Brink of War, a historical drama directed by Michael Russell Gunn, is a timely reminder of the challenges faced by leaders in times of conflict. Featuring Jeff Daniels and Jared Harris as President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, the film is set against the backdrop of the Reykjavik Summit in October 1986, when the two world leaders came close to agreeing to significant reductions in their nuclear arsenals.

Despite their longstanding animosity, Reagan and Gorbachev managed to negotiate groundbreaking agreements that helped clear the path towards the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in 1987 and the eventual end of the Cold War. However, the summit ultimately fell short of a formal agreement, as Reagan refused to accept Gorbachev's demand to restrict research into the Strategic Defence Initiative, commonly known as Star Wars.

In the film, Daniels and Harris navigate the complexities of trust and communication between adversaries, drawing parallels to today's fraught geopolitical landscape. As Jared Harris notes, "There's something that's apropos to the current situation, as it relates to the movie. There's a word that comes up constantly in the film, and that's trust."

He elaborates, "You need to be able to trust the person on the other side of the table, that what you're agreeing to is going to stick even though you're ideologically opposed to one another."

Director Gunn emphasizes the importance of courageous leaders who can acknowledge the dangers of nuclear weapons proliferation and strive for peaceful solutions. "Nuclear weapons are either being developed or sought after, and that's the opposite direction of what these two guys did back on that weekend in Reykjavik," he states in an interview.

The film's relevance is further underscored by the ongoing Iran war, which continues to threaten regional stability. Gunn, who spent years researching the summit and interviewed former U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, draws a direct connection between the historical parallels and the current global situation. "I think that the world is drastically dangerous, as you're experiencing," Gunn remarks, reflecting on the similarities between 1986 and the present day.

The Brink of War offers a poignant reminder of the importance of diplomacy and trust in navigating even the most challenging of international conflicts. Daniels, known for his portrayals of prominent political figures, brings a nuanced perspective to Reagan's character, focusing on the courage and leadership required to engage in dialogue with one's ideological adversaries.

"I essay the politics or the beliefs or the internals of the character I'm playing," Daniels explains. "Who I am as a person and the roles I play are two different things."