OFFICIAL SECRETS
UK, 2019, 112 minutes, Colour.
Keira Knightly, Matthew Smith, Matthew Goode, Rhys Ifans, Ralph Fiennes, Jeremy Northam, Monica Dolan, Tamsin Grieg, Kenneth Cranham.
Directed by Gavin Hood.
With 24 hour television news cycles, with the demands of Reality Television, with revelations from social media, some of them instant, it is no surprise that feature films and television series are up to the mark in presenting political situations from the immediate past as well as the present up there on the screen.
Interestingly, two significant films were released within a week of each other in the US and in other countries. The Report was a telling drama about compiling the report on the CIA’s use of torture after 9/11, the work of the investigators and the complexity of documents, agent protecting their territories, lies, cover-ups and redactions, even to the defying of the American Congress. Official Secrets is a British film – but with strong critique of American politics in the lead up to the invasion of Iraq.
With revelations after the event, the example here focuses on the information that Saddam Hussein did not have weapons of mass destruction, that there was manipulation of the United Nations Security Council voting, that the invasion might be called illegal (and the final grim statistic before the final credits, the numbers of Iraqis killed and wounded, and the extensive number of British and US military personnel killed and wounded).
This is a story of whistleblowing. As the United States geared up for the invasion of Iraq, supported by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and with the support of much of the media – but with little support from the public, witness the demonstrations against the war – a document came through to an operative in the GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters) indicating that members of the Security Council from countries like Angola, Chile, Cameroon should be investigated, compromising material found, that could be used to pressure these countries into voting for the invasion.
Keira Knightly, in one of her best performances, plays Katherine Gun who decides that the document in question imperils lives and decides to take it to a friend, involved in anti-war movements. This was in early 2003. The document eventually is leaked to the British newspaper, The Observer, staunch in its support of Blair. Actually, there are very effective scenes in the offices of B Observer, editor, legal adviser, journalists, all involved in intense discussion and, when the documents are published, even more intense discussion.
Amongst the cast in the Observer offices are Matt Smith as Martin Bright, the journalist who wrote the key article with Matthew Goode Is a more restrained journalist and Rhys Ifans, certainly most unrestrained in his condemnation of the editor, his tracking down connections in the United States.
In the meantime, Katherine Gun confesses to the leak, interrogated, threatened, told that the Official Secrets act prevents her talking about her work to anyone, including defence lawyers. Ultimately, the defence lawyer unearths information that the Attorney General of the time changed his advice to Tony Blair after a visit to Washington, that at the time of the leak, his opinion was that the war could be illegal but then he changed it.
Katherine Gun has an interesting background, growing up in Asia, schooled in Taiwan, teaching English in Japan, marrying a Turkish Kurd who is threatened with deportation from England. There are strong scenes between Katherine and her husband, (Adam Bakri who appeared recently in the Australian drama, Slam).
There are many issues in this film: the role and morality of the whistleblower and the motivation for leaks, the legal consequences and restrictions, national security, the role of the press, the freedom of the press. It is fine films like this one that remind audiences of the complexities behind headlines, the labyrinths of security, motivations for political and war action, that the truth is even harder to come by these days than it used to be or, perhaps, seemed to be in the past.
1. The title? British law? Security secrecy?
2. Politics, espionage, public service, security, whistleblowers and the law? The consequences of the revelations?
3. A true story, Katie Gun, her background, growing up in Taiwan, education, teaching English in Japan, the encounter with Yasar, the Kurd, his prospects of deportation, Katie marrying him? Building up a life together? Happy?
4. Cheltenham is ordinary, suburban, travelling to GCHQ, the offices and the Interiors, the desks and workplaces? The musical score?
5. The work of translation, handling secret documents, the role of the supervisors, the friendships within the office, daily routines?
6. The character of Yasar, the background of his life, threats of deportation, his support of Katie, the impact of the situation, his advice?
7. The crucial document, the signature, American pressure on the United Nations, targeting countries for blackmail and pressure? Katie’s shock? The others reading the document, part of their work?
8. Katie going to see her friend, the friend as careful, the document, the caution? The friend giving it to the campaigner, her contacting Martin Bright?
9. The sequences in The Observer rooms, the editor and his staff, deputies, legal advisers, the journalists? Policy for the invasion of Iraq? The arguments? Bright and his talent, Peter more quiet and advisory, and on the ground in Iraq after the invasion? Ed, Bohemian, his rants, against the war, going to the US, obtaining the contacts? The information about the writer of the letter? His urging publication? The eventual publication, the debate? Success? Then the American TV boycotts? The issue of British spelling and the documents seeming inauthentic? The phone calls, trying to track down the writer, being put off? The final information – and the collaboration of authorship between the journalists?
10. Issues of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, attitude towards Saddam Hussein, memories of the first Gulf War, the first President Bush, George W Bush and his avenging his father? His advisers? The issue of the weapons, whether they existed or not, the desire to invade Iraq?
11. The British issues, the stances of Tony Blair, the Special Relationship with the US, with President Bush? The advice of the attorney general? Lord Goldsmith, the opinion that the war was illegal, his visit to Washington, changing his opinion?
12. The interrogation of all those in the office, Katie denying, looking at the repercussions for the others, telling the truth? The interviews, the detectives, the nature of the interrogation? Time passing, her being taken into custody, in the cell, being released? Yasar and his response?
13. The authorities using Yasar, taking him, to Heathrow, the threat of deportation, the information to Katie, his being released?
14. Katie and lawyers, her being told that to speak to lawyers was also breaking the Officials Secrets Act? The dilemma? Her being followed?
15. Going to the office of Liberty, the meeting with the legal team, the encounters with Emmerson, the discussions, the possible lines of defence? Emmerson, at home, his neighbour, prosecution – and the later scene on the beach and the fishing, Emmerson rejecting him?
16. The discussions about the case, the basis, Lord Goldsmith and his change of opinion, asking for the documents? The issue of dates, Goldsmith’s opinion when the document was released?
17. Katie going to court, Yasar at home, the solemnity of the court, prosecution and defence, the sudden announcement that the case was to be dropped, the judge’s reaction? Emmerson and his statements about the documents?
18. Katie free, the footage of the real Katie and her interview, and whether she would do it again?
19. The invasion of Iraq, the legal issues or not? War crimes? The visuals of the invasion?
20. The final statistics of the dead and wounded, Iraqis, British and American troops?
21. The issue of the need for whistleblowers, rationale, motivations, freedom of the press, the stances of the law?
