Official Secrets
Official Secrets
Official Secrets
Directed by:
Gavin HoodCinematography:
Florian HoffmeisterCast:
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith, Adam Bakri, Matthew Goode, Indira Varma, John Heffernan, Rhys Ifans, Conleth Hill, Jeremy Northam, Tamsin Greig (more)VOD (4)
Plots(1)
She risked everything to stop an unjust war. Her government called her a traitor. Based on world-shaking true events, Official Secrets tells the gripping story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a British intelligence specialist whose job involves routine handling of classified information. One day in 2003, in the lead up to the Iraq War, Gun receives a memo from the NSA with a shocking directive: the United States is enlisting Britain's help in collecting compromising information on United Nations Security Council members in order to blackmail them into voting in favor of an invasion of Iraq. Unable to stand by and watch the world be rushed into an illegal war, Gun makes the gut-wrenching decision to defy her government and leak the memo to the press. So begins an explosive chain of events that will ignite an international firestorm, expose a vast political conspiracy, and put Gun and her family directly in harm's way. (Universal Pictures UK)
(more)Reviews (3)
Another small big film that didn't get an Oscar nod and international fame just because a few years before the similarly conceived Spotlight did with an even juicier topic. The fact that most politicians lie, manipulate, and steal is such an unexplored and generic theme that it can easily earn minus film points even in such a very well staged procedural with GoT actors and a great Keira.
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Let me get this straight: the Russians are the bad guys and Western "democracies" are the good guys. And then someone decides to make this treacherous film that maliciously stabs all the declared unshakable values in the kidneys. The best approach is to keep relying on your common sense. The film didn't bring any great revelations. All the wars for freedom of the oppressed citizens fought from across the Atlantic look the same, have similar consequences, and whoever has a problem with them will be trampled underground. At least most of the time. But I'm glad the creators decided to draw attention to this issue with such a well-made film with a great cast, and I really enjoyed it.
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A well-crafted film about a case directly related to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by American and British troops. Keira Knightley gives a very convincing performance as the plucky spy Katharine Gun, giving a very convincing performance while looking physically and mentally very exhausted, which is necessary to portray this role. Also worth mentioning is the structurally unified musical score, which manages to maintain the dramatic tension practically throughout the entire film. (75%)
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