Genre: Conspiracy / True Story
Platform: Amazon Prime
Time: 1 hour 47 minutes
Director: Gavin Hood
Cast: Keira Knightley. Matt Smith. Matthew Goode.
Plot: Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley) is working at GCHQ, the primary British SIGINT and code cracking agency, based at Cheltenham. As her job involves intercepting both routine and secret messages, she gets a measure of international events of 2003, as they unfold in front of her. Most notably her view of how Britain and other countries are being pushed into an illegal war with poor proofs and justification, despite contrary evidence..
Spoiler/ fair Warning: This is a true story and they usually present a unique challenge. Since the historical outcome is already well known, would it make great cinema or a dry documentary? Gun’s tale however is no less than a thriller and almost all of what’s on screen is true, especially since the real Katherine Gun onscreen in the film’s end.
Simply put Gun leaked some of these manipulations and pressure to the press and was immediately put under severe pressure by her employers who wanted her to recant and went so far as to discredit her and pressurise her by trying to extradite her Turkish Kurd husband, back to Turkey, where he would have faced certain imprisonment and then death. The lawyers on all sides have a field day. Yet throughout it all, Gun sticks to what is morally right.
If this had been any other country, especially in Asia and Middle East, the whistleblower would have quietly disappeared and never heard of again or would meet a mysterious death. Being the UK, the law is rigorously followed and Gun’s trial becomes a celebrated event with the public largely supporting her stand, as it didn’t want to get dragged into an illegal, immoral war, and yet, it was dragged in by “sexed up” – basically fake – information that Saddam Hussen had “unconventional weapons”. The net result was large amount of misery and tragedy for both the Iraqis who were at the receiving end while the British and Americans would rather forget the entire mess and create the next mess (Hello Iran? When do we start next?).
The film’s pace is slow and you may wonder where are the multiple car chases and deaths that are the hallmark of a regular conspiracy thriller. We see the entire action through Katherine’s eyes and the events unfold in front of us through her and hence the somewhat slow pace. Yet, it remains a fascinating film about how an illegal war’s machinations were put on national debate, “sold” to the public through some dodgy and fake “intelligence” and yet couldn’t be prevented despite Katherine Gun’s whistleblowing act. Yes – real life heroes and heroines dont usually look or behave like Bond or Hunt or Bourne 😉
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Rhys Ifans and a host of other (mostly) English actors do a great job in bringing this tale of a courageous woman who stood up for what was morally right. And succeeded.
Script – 4 out of 5
Story – 4 out of 5
Direction – 4 out of 5
Photography – 4 out of 5
Total – 4 out of 5
Hi Rammesh,
I simply need to surrender control of my ‘To Be Watched’ list to you! Another excellent review.. and will watch ‘Official Secrets’ soon. Others in the ensemble cast include Matt Smith (who played Prince Phillip in the first two seasons of ‘The Crown’)
Was reading about famous whistleblowers a few days ago…many names.. but the ones that made it to film:
Snowden – CIA/NSA contractor, government surveillance
Serpico – New York Police Department corruption
Whistleblower – Big Tobacco
Erin Brokowich – Groundwater contamination
Silwood – nuclear site safety
The Informant – price-fixing in agriculture
And the two biggest (in my opinion):
All The President’s Men – Watergate – corruption, starting at the President’s desk
The Post – the Pentagon Papers – blew the lid on the Vietnam War disaster
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Another favorite is ‘Truth’ (2015).. the film unfortunately flopped.. but covered a topic on which the reelection of George W. Bush in 2004, could have mattered….my favorite scene from the classic Australian actress Cate Blanchett:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvRjzNQxq7A
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Lastly, as far as I know, there are very few (or none?) Indian films which deal purely with the subject of a whistleblower? There must be!
Thanks,
Robin
Hi Robin
Thanks for the “affirmation” :)
That said , whistleblowers per se , are made for great dramatic cinema . If anything this film is a bit low key but most of the films mentioned by you have been made into high drama one time or another. There are some more movies on the topic as below
1. The Whistle Blower (1986) – Michael Caine wants to find out what was it that his son found out that led to his untimely death. Somewhat dark about the British establishment but somewhat loses steam half way through.
2. The Whistleblower (2010) – Based on a true story of an American female police officer seconded to the UN “Peacekeeping force” in Serbia who finds out that her own comrades, who are supposed to PREVENT, crimes are engaging in sexual and human trafficking. Worthwhile purely for Weisz; Some of the onscreen crimes made me look away from the screen – its that realistic.
There are tons of movies with the same title on imdb
https://www.imdb.com/find/?q=Whistle%20blower&ref_=tt_nv_srb_sm
Naturally I havent seen all of them but hopefully will be able to – some day :)
KVR