Olivia Sutton's Fanfic Journal

The Ghost Writer - Movie Review
By Olivia Sutton

Starring:  Ewan McGregor, Pierce Bronson, Kim Cattrell, Timothy Hutton

The Ghost Writer is a tense, intriguing British political film.  I hesitate to call it a "thriller", because like many British political films or mini-series, the pacing at first is slow and the film lacks the violence of American political thrillers.  However, the film's somewhat slow pacing does quickly draw you in through the characters - the entire film is told through the pov of Ewan McGregor's character, a freelance writer who accepts a job as a ghost writer on the biography of a former British Prime Minister, played by Pierce Bronson.

This film reminds me of two British political mini-series, "A Very British Coup" from the 1970s, in which the Labour Party overwhelmingly wins a British election (bringing a Labour PM into power) only to have the Civil Service work to discredit the elected Labour government.  When that doesn't work the prime minister is assassinated by MI6.  (Note:  Because of the way Parliamentary Government works, a British Prime Minister has never been assassinated - it wouldn't work, the original party would still be in power and the next in line for party leadership would assume the duties of PM.  At the very worse, it would cause a leadership crisis or vote of non-confidence).  The other mini-series this reminds me of is "The Trial of Tony Blair", a fictional mini-series in which the real Tory/Conservative PM Tony Blair is accused of and put on trial for war crimes.  If you have seen one or both of  these previous mini-series, or have a working knowledge of British politics, it will help in seeing The Ghost Writer, but it's not necessary.

The film opens with a discussion of the mysterious death of McGregor's predecessor, necessitating the need for a new ghost writer.  As mentioned above, Ewan McGregor takes the job and heads to Martha's Vineyard to interview Alan Lang (Bronson, the former PM).  While in the airport, Sky News (the UK's worst new service, by the bye) breaks a story that the Hague is looking into Lang's actions while PM for possible war crimes (or facilitation of war crimes and torture).  This makes McGregor's job harder, as the already short one month deadline he had on the book has been shortened to two weeks.

Arriving in Martha's Vineyard, McGregor starts interviewing Lang, meets his wife, his very pretty personal assistant, and slowly discovers something is wrong.  However, rather than beat you over the head with conspiracy theory, The Ghost Writer, instead, feels like a well-crafted mystery.  McGregor's character really has no idea what's going on - so neither does the audience, which is what makes this film work so well.  This is a film that trusts the audience to be intelligent enough to follow the twists and turns of the plot without over-explaining it.  It also, quickly turns into a film about trust -- who is McGregor to trust?  Does he trust Lang?  His wife?  Lang's political rival who leaked the story?  The CIA?  Just what is going on?  Even once it seems all is revealed, the film isn't over.

Overall, The Ghost Writer, is a well-written, extremely well acted, thoughtful, intelligent movie.  This is a film for adults - not because of language or sex scenes, but because less mature viewers probably won't have the patience to wait for it to play out, or the intelligence to understand what's going on anyway.  I do highly recommend it!

Which brings me to the last point about this movie.  I wanted to see it from the minute I saw the first previews over six months ago.  When February arrived I checked Fandango weekly, but none of my local theaters carried it.  This week I discovered it was airing - Monday and Tuesday and that was it!  I ended-up going to the first show on Tuesday.  I'm glad I finally saw the film - but I'm just a little bit peeved at the blatant censorship by my local theaters.  This is the second film I've nearly missed because of local censorship.  (I did miss "Creation" starring Paul Bettany.  It was in town for one day - and that was it.  And I'm not exaggerating, I was checking Fandango - the weekend it aired I had family obligations and couldn't see the film, and the next week it was gone.)  You know, if you don't want to see a film - the answer is simple - don't go see it.  But I'm getting a little tired of local politicos and business leaders deciding that they don't like a film so no one can see it.  And, yeah, sure, there's rental places and Netflix (which I don't currently subscribe to), but I still prefer to see a film in the theater with an audience.  I'm getting a bit tired of someone else deciding what I can and can't watch.