Official Secrets

First Hit: I really enjoyed this film not only because of the exceptional acting but also because I learned about this brave individual.

Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley) worked for the British Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) as part of British Intelligence. Her mandarin language translation skills from living all around Asia as a child, helped the agency translate tapped intercepted telephone conversations and write reports about them. Her job was to help prevent terrorist activities and attacks in Britain.

One day she receives an email with an attached memo stating that the United States and Britain were going to coerce votes from small United Nations members to influence the support for invading Iraq. George Bush and his team of people wanted to invade Iraq after 9-11, and he wanted to do it legally with United Nations support. Manufacturing evidence (WMDs) and using this coercion of small nations, they would get UN approval to bomb the hell out of Iraq. Bush wanted to prove that the US was doing something about the 9-11 attack and he felt his father the senior Bush didn’t do enough when they’d previously invaded Iraq.

The attached memo was seen by Gun as collusion between England and the US to enter this war illegally. With a deep sense of purpose to stop this illegal action and from the potential deaths of fellow Englishmen, US soldiers and possibly thousands of Iraqi citizens, she prints a copy of the memo and gives this copy to a friend who will give it to the press. Three weeks go by, and it isn’t published, but finally Martin Bright (Matt Smith) of The Observer decides, after doing their due diligence, to release the memo in full and all hell breaks loose.

Scotland Yard starts their investigation at GCHQ and shortly after the interviews begin, Katharine admits she leaked the memo in violation of the Official Secrets Act. After threatening and harassing her and her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri), even arresting him and attempt to deport him, eight months later the government decides to formally charge Gun.

Obtaining Ben Emerson (Ralph Fiennes) a volunteer lawyer, through a public legal group, they decide to take on the government. By investigating authorized personnel in the government that had initially told Prime Minister Tony Blair that his actions would be illegal, they decided to fight the case. Because it is public knowledge, I’ll share that the government exonerated Gun from the crimes she committed even though she confessed to leaking the document.

This was a great story and one I knew nothing about until seeing this film.

Knightley is fantastic as Gun. Her ability to be fragile, scared, and brave, all at once is perfect for this film. Great casting call. Smith, as Bright was excellent. His drive to publish the article was strong. His look when someone on their staff used “spellcheck” on his story and changed the spelling of key words was perfect. Bakri as Gun’s husband was wonderful. His caring support of Katharine felt genuine. Fiennes was excellent as Gun’s lawyer, and the scene at the end of the film when he asks his friend to leave the spot where he’s fishing is pointed about how things have to change. Rhys Ifans was fabulous as US investigative reporter Ed Vulliamy. His outrageous drive helped to secure the information needed to validate the information in the leaked memo. Everyone in this film was good and, of course, seeing the real Katharine Gun in film footage was perfect. Gregory Bernstein, Sara Bernstein, and Gavin Hood did a fantastic job of creating a compelling screenplay. Hood got terrific performances from the entire crew and actors.

Overall: This film is a potent reminder that we have to live our truth and be willing to stand up for what is right.

Eye in the Sky

First Hit:  A complex film giving a really multifacited view of how fighting wars remotely, through cameras and armed drones, is changing the face and mental complexities of war.

Colonel Katherine Powell (Helen Mirren) is in charge of a mission to capture a British woman who is, with her Arabic husband, helping Islamic revolutionaries with suicide attacks. Powell has been tracking this person for 6 years from England through the use spies, informants and remote tracking devices.

At the time, her remote surveillance is provided for by the US using drone pilots located in a USAF unit stationed in Las Vegas, Nevada. For the first time she has a chance to capture this person in Nairobi, Kenya along with two other people who have become radicalized, one a US citizen and the other a British citizen.

Also working with her is the Kenyan army who are ready to apprehend this group when the opportunity arises. Watching her and the surveillance feeds remotely from another part of England is General Benson (Alan Rickman), who is with others from the British Government including the Attorney General.

This group is viewing the remote feeds to ensure the actions the Colonel takes are legal. However, the radicals move to an area where the government army cannot go, therefore the capture is off and now it is about finding a way to take out this group by using rockets from the drone.

There is a lot of discussion about doing this, including the amount of possible collateral damage. When they “Eye in the Sky” a drone pilot Steve Watts (Aaron Paul) sees a 9-year-old girl named Alia (Aisha Takow) near the target area he asks for a re-assessment of the collateral damage area. While this is being assessed, Col. Powell is pressing for the attack, British Government sitting with the General are mixed in their assessment of weather to attack or not.

The US Government, which comes up in two different calls, states clearly they want the attack regardless of the collateral damage, and the Pilot and his co-pilot Carrie Gershon (Phoebe Fox) will do what they are ordered while showing the extreme signs of the stress and difficulty of the situation.

Mirren is really strong as the obsessed Colonel that will do almost anything to meet her objective. Rickman (in probably his final film) was really good using his typical droll and intelligent way of communicating. Paul was excellent as the drone pilot that was participating in his first use of deadly force. Takow was wonderful as the Kenyan girl causing all the questions. Fox was very good as the new inexperienced co-pilot. Barkhad Adbi was superb as the Kenyan undercover agent using miniature drone camera devices and finding ways to help minimize the collateral damage. Guy Hibbert wrote an exceptional screenplay. It was complex, filled with great dialogue and fully explored the dilemma afforded by fighting war with technology and remote abilities. Gavin Hood did an excellent job of creating the intimacy of each remote area and the wholeness of how remote wars are being fought.

Overall:  This film was excellent in so many ways and did a great job of bringing in both the political and military aspects of this type warfare to light.

Ender's Game

First Hit:  I liked where the film ended because it gave me hope for compassionate thinking.

The film reflected the attitude of a fear based society, let’s be aggressors and attack to extinguish another race without knowing their current intention.

True, this planetary race attacked our planet and in the battle we beat them along with destroying an outpost planet they had. However, does this past action note their current intent? How does this mirror our current conservative government officials? These are the questions I reflected on throughout the film.

With this theme there is also the theme that children are more adaptable, think faster and can process large complex problems and data better than adults. The theory of the films leaders is to attack and fully eradicate this other race so that there is no chance they can attack earth again. Although they have no proof that this is what these aliens are planning, it is the belief and therefore they are combing all youths to find the one who can willfully attack and annihilate the aliens.

The storyline follows Ender Wiggin’s (Asa Butterfield) attempt to be that person. He is being guided by Colonel Graff (Harrison Ford) and Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley). His sister Valentine (Abigail Breslin) is his conscious and closest family counsel. When he learns he’s tricked into actually extinguishing the perceived enemy, he’s angry and looks to make amends.

Butterflied is very good. He carries the strong willfulness this character needed to succeed and make believable. Ford is perfect as the gruff military man with one goal. Kingsley is also strong as the hero of the first battle with the aliens. Gavin Hood wrote a good script and he got good performances from his cast, while his direction and use of computer generated graphics and visuals were with clear intent.

Overall:  This was a very entertaining film and characters were very well defined.