SPARTAN

US, 2003, 107 minutes, Colour.
Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, William H. Macy, Ed O’ Neill, Kristen Bell, Tia Texada, Clark Gregg, Said Taghmaoui.
Directed by David Mamet.

This is a dark and frequently dark-looking film. It has to be. We are being taken inside the American Secret Service, that group of highly-trained men and women who guard the president and other VIPS. Some years ago, Clint Eastwood made an entertaining version of David Baldacci’s Absolute Power where the Secret Service had to protect the President in his off-hours and in his off-behaviour, especially when they had to follow political advisor’s orders to clean up messes and keep the lid tight on the truth, no matter what.

Things have not changed, in fiction-land at least. This time the focus is completely on the Secret Service, the rigid fidelity to their protective commissions, no matter what the moral or immoral context.

The film opens with a tough training and testing session supervised by Val Kilmer. It stays very tough, especially for Kilmer who is not an agent in command. Rather, he is like a Spartan of old, sent as a loner to work for the king, a loner who lives what we now call a spartan existence. He supervises but obeys orders. He can read people. He can interrogate physically and psychologically. He is tough and loyal, even when he has to find the daughter of the president who may have been inadvertently abducted by a white slave trade ring operating between the US and Dubai and the Middle East.

If this seems fascinating, you will want to see the whole film. Val Kilmer is at his best in this kind of role, especially when surface cracks appear and he has to question orders, feel moments of compassion for the victim, use his own initiative, especially against the sinister, all-knowing and controlling political minders and advisers.

What makes Spartan even more interesting is that it was written and directed by celebrated playwright, David Mamet. Mamet has written many dark screenplays (The Untouchables, The Verdict, The Postman Always Rings Twice). He is also at home in a men’s world, an official macho world that sees itself righteously as the custodian of good in the world when, in fact, there is corruption under the surface. More US conspiracies.

1. The background of Greek mythology, the Spartan warrior, his mission, alone? Scott as the modern warrior?

2. The title, the tone of Spartan, ascetic, single-handed, harsh, hard?

3. The work of David Mamet, tough dramas, the focus on male activity? A man’s world? His strength of dialogue, language? His critique of American society?

4. The training centre, the squalid world of the Secret Service, headquarters, interrogation rooms? The squalid world of politics, deceit, the Secret Service covering up? The beach houses and the atmosphere of reality and tranquility contrasting with the world of the Secret Service? Dubai? The action sequences and pace? The musical score?

5. How plausible the plot, as a thriller, as political? How plausible the action, the abduction of the president’s daughter, the white slave trade, Dubai and the Middle East? The final confrontation?

6. America in the 21st century, its place, relationship with the Middle East, the tradition of the presidents, leadership, personal behaviour and deceit, the echoes of Bill Clinton’s behaviour? America and the world? Its manifest destiny of leading the world? Its Secret Service, wealth and resources to draw on? Cover-ups?

7. The role of the Secret Service, the people recruited, men and women, tough-minded, physically tough, psychologically tough? The training? The nature of decisions, the protection of the president, the political implications?

8. The opening, Scott and his testing of Curtis, Curtis and his failing, decision not to fail? The subsequent debriefing? Scott and Curtis and the assignments?

9. Scott in himself, a Spartan, alone, tough, demanding, interrogation work, physical? His not to reason, his obeying orders, going home, his cover, his name and identity? The lack of personal life? The lack of relationships – but the glimmers of a compassion underneath?

10. His work, relentless, wanting to find the truth, his commitment to the Secret Service? His being the bad cop in the bad cop-good cop scenario? Threats? His ability to read people? The nature of his interrogations, the physical violence? The president’s daughter and her disappearance, concern, the interrogation of the boyfriend? The information about the club? The harsh interrogation of the madam – and with her Serbian and migrant background?

11. The world of the students, relationships, fights, the president’s daughter and her changing her hair? Sexual activity, going to the club, escorts? Her being abducted? Her lack of relationship with her father, mother? Her being in Dubai, in the channel for the white slave trade? Her potential disappearance? Her being rescued?

12. Curtis, his training, the other members of the Secret Service, loyalties? Curtis and his work with Scott, the information about the daughter and her being at the beach house, his mistake in standing near the window, his death?

13. The politics and the implications, the president’s daughter, his lack of relationship with her, everything seeming good in public, the Secret Service guarding him, his sexual trysts and their covering for him? His lack of communication, not understanding his daughter’s needs, need to love him? The election mode, his protectors, their personalities, ruthlessness, their decisions, the cover-up, the assassinations, even of the Secret Service? Their power, tracking Scott with the device in his knife? The final confrontation and shoot-out? Scott and his visit, discovering the woman, her being the mother instead of the president’s wife? Her wanting the girl back, her collaboration with Scott?

14. The tracking, the sign on the letter, on the window, Curtis seeing it? The irony of the boating accident, the promiscuous professor, the girl? The headlines and the proclamation of the president’s daughter’s death?

15. Scott and his being out of the loop, Curtis and his coming back to him? Scott and the investigation, the threats? The shoot-out at the house?

16. Scott and the moral decision, using his cover, getting to Dubai?

17. The contacts, in Dubai, finding the girl, the protection and the escape, the pursuit by the slave traders? The end and his being persuasive, the Swedish television crew, the waiting plane, his being shot?

18. The personalities of the political minders, Stoddard and his being in the background, watching, his tracking Scott, his role in Dubai, wanting to destroy evidence? The justification and the rationale for the Secret Service behaviour?

19. Scott, his emergence in Piccadilly Circus, in England, another day? His future?

20. The background of conspiracy stories, American politics, the slave trade, the emergence of the Middle East on the world stage?