Year:  2019

Director:  Gavin Hood

Rated:  MA

Release:  November 21, 2019

Distributor: Universal

Running time: 112 minutes

Worth: $10.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth

Cast:
Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans

Intro:
Confusing vitriol with passion, Official Secrets’ ambitions become diluted by unapologetically brash filmmaking.

From the likes of Frost/Nixon, Spotlight, The Post, and the recently released The Report, the intriguing nature behind uncovering institutional skeletons has filmmakers, critics and audiences titillated.

The modern-day rebel lives on in the whistle-blower, with the latest film to depict such a case, Official Secrets, offering a brooding and scathing assessment on government.

Based on the true story of British translator Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), Official Secrets follows her leaking of top-secret government intel to British news outlet The Observer. The material in question reveals a request from the United States to have British Intelligence gather intel on members of the United Nations Security Council due to vote on the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

A true story involving international cover-ups, spies, the government, and an insider job; what could have been a well-balanced exploration on the importance of journalism in keeping governments in check instead transpires to be an ominous and irate political thriller.

Director Gavin Hood (Tsotsi, Eye in the Sky) seizes every opportunity to make lacerating comments about government duplicity. He makes it his mission to voice political disdain as a series of unsophisticated anti-political jabs (made by journalists at The Observer portrayed adequately by Matt Smith, Matthew Goode and Rhys Ifans) and bafflingly intense stares by Knightley towards the TV when a politician is in view.

Gun’s experiences throughout Official Secrets, particularly her impending trial where she is defended by Human Rights lawyer Ben Emmerson (Ralph Fiennes), is emblematic of a society fed-up with the government’s power to act in secrecy and without accountability. Hood does not permit Knightley to become more than her character’s indignation. Resultingly, Hood’s ill-tempered direction creates an unappealing and spiteful tone that detracts from the film’s exploration of corruption.

The struggles of the film bleed into the suspense department, with Hood being unable to elicit intrigue. (A scene involving the printing of confidential documents being as mundane as it sounds).

Confusing vitriol with passion, Official Secrets’ ambitions to champion journalistic inquiry – an industry facing mounting trust and economic woes – become diluted by unapologetically brash filmmaking.

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  • Rodney
    Rodney
    20 November 2019 at 1:24 pm

    As someone who has watched it, came out in the British film festival, I honestly thought it was a wonderful suspenseful film! Admittedly I don’t consider the directing side of things, but the plot, script etc was up there!

  • Tony Kevin
    21 November 2019 at 6:45 pm

    A spiteful review of a gripping, fabulous film

  • Mon
    Mon
    23 November 2019 at 12:26 pm

    Saw it last night! Really loved it. Go see it

  • Travis C
    Travis C
    25 November 2019 at 3:46 pm

    No, I am with the reviewer (i.e against the other comments). It had a lot going for it (particularly Knightly and Fiennes) but overall the script and directing were too earnest (much like most of Hood’s filmography).

  • Caroline
    Caroline
    6 January 2020 at 3:39 pm

    Thought it was great; very english… theatrical, suspenseful, yet polite at all times (where you see clipped performance i see englishness playing out to its full restraint)… and a brilliant ensemble cast. Also educational… i seriously did not know the detail behind the war crimes allegations… one to watch….and enjoy…. in a perfectly british kind of way… with a cup of tea and biscuits!

  • Well, just watched it. And to be honest, I will go with the real Katherine Gun and real Martin Bright’s interview which I saw on YouTube (19th October 2019). I think what this reviewer (with due respect) watched and what I watched, have been two different films. May be.

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