THE SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
UK/US, 2010, 103 minutes, Colour.
Michael Sheen, Dennis Quaid, Hope Davis, Helen Mc Crory, Adam Godley, Mark Bazeley.
Directed by Richard Loncraine.
The Special Relationship is that political love affair between the United States and the United Kingdom – despite the Revolutionary Wars. The credits sequences of this film give us a pictorial historical overview of the presidents and the prime ministers and the partnerships from Winston Churchill during World War II and Franklin Roosevelt to John Major and Bill Clinton in the 1990s. However, the film opens with a visit from the Labour Leader, Tony Blair, in 1996 to the White House, which was expecting Blair to become the next British Prime Minister. He was elected in a landslide in 1997. In the meantime, Bill Clinton was elected for his second term as President.
This screenplay has been written by Peter Morgan who has show quite a remarkable skill in reconstructing political and social situations as well as credible imagining of conversations between the politicians, royalty and significant American figures: The Deal (the television movie about Tony Blair’s agreement with Gordon Brown concerning the succession in the prime ministership and which introduced Michael Sheen as Blair), The Queen (Sheen reprising his role as Blair and introducing Helen Mc Crory as Cherie Blair), The Last King of Scotland and Frost/Nixon (with Sheen this time as David Frost).
Michael Sheen and Helen Mc Rory are back as the Blairs with Dennis Quaid, doing a fine impersonation of Bill Clinton and Hope Davis who could be easily mistaken in looks and voice for the real Hilary Clinton. Once again Peter Morgan has incorporated speeches and information in the public arena with creative sequences of conversations which were private but which are more than plausible here.
Tony Blair was rather amazed to be so welcomed to Washington and to meet Bill Clinton before he became prime minister. The two hit it off and seemed to have something of a united vision, Blair bringing up the tradition of the special relationship. Clinton is the senior politician and the screenplay indicates how shrewd a politician and statesman he could be. While the Monica Lewinsky situation looms quite large at this time, with the president’s denials, change of attitude and his further testimony in the context of impeachment, Tony Blair (who did not approve and who is taken aback at first with the media’s rather uncensored presentation and language about the affair) stood by Clinton and is quoted as saying that these personal matters did not affect his capacity to govern.
The immediate issue here for the special relationship is that of Northern Ireland, with footage of the violence and glimpses of Gerry Addams. The next critical issue is that of the Balkans and how Europe, NATO and the Americans dealt with the attacks of President Milosovich on Kosovo. It is here that the idealism of Tony Blair, with some messianic touches, begins to emerge, along with the politics of being liked. He and Clinton disagree, with Clinton clearly stating his hesitations and his reasons. Blair went on the offensive in the US and the American media lapped him up, forcing Clinton’s hand. The personal aspect of the special relationship cooled, even as we see the Clintons visiting the Blairs at the time of the 2000 American election.
With George W. Bush in office, we see Blair becoming more of an opportunist using the special relationship and becoming friends with the new president (much to Clinton’s dismay). He wonders whether Blair was the visionary that he initially thought he was.
This means that the screenplay tends to make Bill Clinton the moral arbiter of Tony Blair’s behaviour with his final disapproving judgment.
Michael Sheen again brings Tony Blair to life, the eagerness, the political nous, the idealism, being forced into more pragmatic stances. (Sheen makes Blair smile a lot – but in the final sequence with actual footage of the prime minister with George Bush, the real Tony Blair seems to smile more in happy acquiescence of the Bush friendship than Sheen does).
Helen McRory? is given good lines and speeches as Cherie, the Blair household at a seemingly more modest 10 Downing Street, contrasting with the Clintons. She provides an ‘earthing’ for her husband many a time.
Dennis Quaid is very good as Clinton – which must make Oliver Stone disappointed as he has made JFK, Nixon films and a film with both Bushes but has not tackled Clinton. Hope Davis, perhaps in the light of Hilary Clinton’s life and work as Senator and Secretary of State, makes her a credible first lady with some dignity and wit (and tolerance for her husband).
In the wings, Adam Godley as chief adviser, Jonathan Powell, and Mark Bazeley as a strong lookalike spin doctor, Alistair Campbell (reprising his role from The Queen), remind us of the role of these powers behind the throne.
The film was screened on American television and in cinemas in other areas. The film and the cast were nominated for Emmy awards.
One hopes there will be The Special Relationship II with Peter Morgan enlightening us by reconstructing phone calls and meetings between Tony Blair and George W. Bush and, of course, the invasion of Iraq and its aftermath.
1. The film made for television audiences in America? World theatrical release? World interest, US, UK and beyond? Non-English-speaking? countries?
2. A film of 2010, the status of Bill Clinton after his presidency, memories of his presidency, his strengths, capacity for governing, diplomacy? His personal weaknesses, relationships with women, investigations, Monica Lewinsky?
3. 2010 perspective on Tony Blair, before his becoming prime minister, Labour leader, his going to the United States, meeting Bill Clinton and being backed by the administration, elected as prime minister, his decisions? His being seen in the light of the invasion of Iraq? Strengths and weaknesses, diplomacy and policy in the 1990s, Ireland, Kosovo? His reputation after his prime ministership?
4. The British settings, London, Downing Street, Westminster, inside Downing Street? The Oratory School and other local landmarks?
5. The American settings, Washington, DC, airports and hotels, the White House, the interiors of the White House, the Capitol?
6. The use of documentary footage, for what was happening in Northern Ireland, the peace talks, the agreements? Milosevic and Serbia, the attacks on Kosovo? The scenes with George W. Bush and the actual Tony Blair at the end?
7. The nature of the Special Relationship, its history? The credits and the images of the prime ministers from Churchill to Blair, the American presidents from Roosevelt to George W. Bush? The explanations? The relationship for the US? Advice and support from Britain, collaboration, critique? Britain and its support of Bill Clinton, especially in the Monica Lewinsky situation? The Special Relationship for Tony Blair, the need, the prestige, his eagerness, naivety? The relationship in 1996, the dominance of the US? By 2000, Bill Clinton’s interventions for Ireland and Kosovo, the tensions in the Special Relationship? Being recreated with George W. Bush?
8. Bill Clinton as a person, genial, businesslike, friendly? The domestic sequences and the White House, with Hillary, their private rooms, eating in the kitchen? Receiving Tony Blair, the talk, the bond? His being elected to the second term? The Irish cases? Hillary and the relationship, his past? The Monica Lewinsky situation, his testimony, his eventual confession, the possible impeachment? The effect? Hillary and her reaction, being betrayed, taking time to cope with it? Tony Blair and his support, the visits? The meals with the Clintons and the Blairs? The talk about Al Gore, the hopes for policy for the future, his being defeated by Bush? Ireland and his shrewdness, Kosovo and his hesitation, the response of the American public, to troops on the ground, to the bombings of Serbia? Discussions with Tony Blair, the warnings? His reaction to Blair going public? Clinton in London, 2000, the Bush victory? His perceptions of Tony Blair and his ideals – or not?
9. Tony Blair, British, his background, the importance of his advisers, Jonathan Powell and Alastair Campbell, always present? The initial visit to the United States, the taxi driver’s nonchalance, his meeting Bill Clinton, that Clinton saw that he was about to win the British election? Press conferences, the advisers and their checking everything? The collages of Clinton’s re-election, Blair’s election? The other visits, Blair going to the White House, the talks, the wives and their friendship, diplomatic issues? The talking and the press conferences? Ireland, Gerry Adams? Kosovo, the ideals, the persecuted Kosovans, the ambitions of Milosevic and Serbia? The actual footage? The American response, the issues of NATO and the forces, the United Nations, the bombings, the protests? The American media and Blair’s seventy-five percent popularity? The tension with Bill Clinton, Blair offering an apology, Clinton’s reaction?
10. The portrait of Cherie Blair, supportive wife, her own career as a lawyer, with the children, supporting the prime minister, the school scenes, the domestic scenes in the kitchen, talking things over, her advice? The reaction to the Monica Lewinsky case? The (**?overheard? – not clear) and the frankness, shielding her children? The comparisons of Cherie with Hillary? Clinton and the 2000 visit?
11. The portrait of Hillary Clinton (and seen in the retrospect of her Senate career as well as secretary of state)? Strong, the reputation, Ken Starr and the continued criticisms? The reputation, the cases, the attacks on her? Her love for Bill Clinton? The deception about Monica Lewinsky and her having to handle it, her public face? Taking time? Her attempts to reform the American health system?
12. The blend of the politics and the personal, Peter Morgan’s ability to reconstruct plausible conversations which were held in private?
13. Bill Clinton, his achievement as president, his limitations, his heritage?
14. Tony Blair, with Clinton, the change, the friendship with Bush, the invasion of Iraq?
15. Tony Blair, his heritage as prime minister, his action and mediation after his prime ministership?
