This is a film I hadn’t been aware of until I was perusing Matt Smith’s IMDb page again recently. I’ve heard about a lot of the bigger things he’s done since he left Doctor Who (we’ll see how things go with House of the Dragon,) but this was a new one for me. It’s about a story I didn’t know from a part of history I lived through, so that’s neat for me.
In 2003, a government analyst from the U.K. named Katharine Gun is alarmed to see a U.S. memo calling on Britain’s help. The memo asks for assistance in digging up dirt on several of the nations sitting on the UN Security Council, with the aim of swaying the vote in favor of the Iraq war. Katharine leaks the memo to an antiwar activist, who in turn takes it to the press. What follows is a journalist’s fight to verify and print the story while Katharine fears reprisals as the source of the classified intel.
I was in high school when the Iraq war began, and while I wasn’t ignorant of the news at the time, there was a lot I only learned and understood after the fact. As for the U.K.’s involvement, all I really knew was that they were U.S. allies and we often used them to draw comparisons with France (remember “freedom fries”?) I’ve of course since learned a lot about things the U.S. did that weren’t above board, and so while this new information, it doesn’t exactly surprise me that we essentially tried to blackmail UN member nations for their support.
Although the central conflict of the film kicks off with this underhanded move by the U.S., the story stays mainly on the British side of things. The film sells Katharine’s horror at realizing what they’re being asked to do, as well as her struggle between her loyalty to her country, her opposition to strong-arming support for a war without just cause, and her intense fear about coming forward. Both her story and the wider narrative involving activists, journalists, and lawyers captures the risk all of them are doing to bring this story to the public. Scenes that at first feel like paranoia, like seeing an outspoken activist needing proof that Katharine has removed the battery from her phone before speaking to her, quickly prove to be well-founded.
I feel like most of my experience with Keira Knightley is with her costume dramas, but while 2003 was certainly the past, this isn’t a period piece in the same vein as Pride and Prejudice or Atonement. Knightley gives a strong central performance as Katharine, anchoring the film with her warring mix of determination and apprehension, brave even as she’s terrified about what’s going to happen. Lots of other familiar faces crop up, including Matthew Goode (who I’ll always remember best from A Single Man,) Game of Thrones alum Conleth Hill and Indira Varma, Ralph Fiennes, and Jane Austen alum Jeremy Northam (former Mr. Knightley) and Hattie Morahan (former Elinor Dashwood.)
Smith has a good-sized role here. He plays Martin Bright, the journalist who’s given the memo. A lot of what we get from Martin is what you’d expect in most newspaper dramas, especially those involving politics: a dogged determination to bring the story to print, arguments with nervous editors, a boldness in chasing down sources, and a strong sense of integrity in the face of lies and evasions. If you’ve seen All the President’s Men, State of Play, or Spotlight, you can guess how a lot of this part of the movie is going to go.
But despite those well-trod character and story beats, Smith makes Martin feel like a person rather than a type. His performance helps us follow when Martin’s grandstanding for his editor, when he’s like a dog with a bone going after a lead, and when he’s banging his head against the wall to figure out where something went wrong. In his hands, it all feels like it comes from a genuine place. A lot of performances I’ve seen from Smith are fairly mannered and actorly (albeit in a definite good way,) but this is more subdued work from him.
Accent Watch
A basic RP, not nearly as posh as he sounds in his more upper-crusty roles like The Crown or Christopher and His Kind.
Recommend?
In General – I would. This is a taut, suspenseful narrative about a bit of recent history that features a host of strong actors.
Matt Smith – I think so. While less eye-catching than a lot of Smith’s work, this is a solid, grounded performance, and it’s neat to see something different from him.
Warnings
Language, brief sexual content, smoking/drinking, and strong thematic elements.
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