'The Ides of March'

George Clooney, as a director, clearly intends to follow in the footsteps of Robert Redford or Clint Eastwood, in terms of his politically engaged film-making, even though he neither possesses Redford's gritty commentary nor Eastwood's lavish aesthetics, yet, anyway.

Let's not put the cart in front of the horse, or the endorsement in front of the governor, or whatever the saying is. The Ides of March follows the young media genius Stephen Meyers as he works on the Pennsylvania governor's presidential campaign, the film is mainly set in Ohio whose polls could decide the potential outcome of the presidential preliminaries. He works under the experienced Paul Zara and contrary to the latter, Meyers has an almost naïve faith in the liberal democratic values of their charismatic candidate Mike Morris.

On the other side of this political ring-fight, we find Tom Duffy, a shrewd campaign manger who seems not only to see all the strings, but pull them as well. Duffy, naturally attempts to hire Meyers whom he sees great potential in and Meyers, somewhat foolishly, agrees to meet, even though he eventually turns Duffy down. Things get messy as Meyer's journalist friend senses a scoop and learns of the meet. Throw in a gorgeous young intern and the political débâcle is on its way.

Based on a theatre play 'Farragut North' by Beau William in 2004, it comes as no surprise that the plot in itself is a skeleton plot, following a trigger, consequential action to the situational circumstances and the results of those actions. This bareness in terms of plot structure, makes the overall feel of the film result in a certain notion of staginess as it isolates the characters in symbolic concepts of idealism, corruption and the weaknesses of pride and personal gain. The 'twists' (and the quotation marks here are very much deliberate) are straightforward to blunt, emphasising the good old truth that politics is a dirty business, as if we hadn't seen it all before. The intern business feels contrived at times as it relies too much on Clinton's little indiscretion with a certain Monica Lewinski, relevant at the time of the play's opening, but almost anachronistic in present day.

The film's concentration on the characters of its unfolding leave one very important element of the political power play out, namely the people, or the votes for that matter. Granted, this could be deliberate as it illustrates how, in the end, a campaign is nothing but the sum of actions of the opposite campaign teams at play, at the same time however, the film could have benefited from the introduction of the masses and their more or less blind belief in the promises of the candidates as it would have heightened the cynicism of political observation.

As such, Clooney focuses on a cinematography of close-ups, highlighting the conspirational closeness of the protagonists and an atmosphere of dirty secrets in which the latter are nothing but a means to get headway in this personal road of success. The framing translates a feel of absolute isolation, of a closed universe in which trust is a luxury, loyalty an impossibility and idealism just a sign of naivety. The colour scheme is one of expensive subdued, plain in its dark greens, browns and beige, not unlike the lounge/bar in high class hotel, in which whispered echoes provide a background noise which prohibits any genuine voice or sound and as such become utterly unreal.

The performances are, of course, excellent, how could they not be with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti on board. Am I the only one who cannot help but feel guilty boredom in seeing those two high-class actors, which I know are never going to et a foot wrong in terms of performance? Hoffmann plays his character with the beaten desolation of a man who has been in the business for years, which seems to have drained the colour from his very figure and Giamatti who plays Duffy with the nihilistic perseverance of a pit-bull, who doesn't so much know why he has to bite as he just knows it's in his nature. The real reverence of the film, however, lies in Gosling, who, since Drive has really drawn attention to himself. He carries the film with an aggressive nonchalance which is as much put on as it is strangely enough innocent. There's nothing new to the role of the young idealist who becomes corrupted along the line, Gosling, however, manges to infuse the role with a genuine intensity of a man who is in over his head and needs to make a choice of whether to relinquish his principles and success or whether to lose with his integrity intact, but nothing much else left. Clooney cleverly puts on a sideshow performance in his portrayal of the charismatic governor, his role almost becomes a parody of the figure of Clooney the actor himself, charming, but with an underlying tone of sinister calculation. The audience witnesses Clooney the actor, acting, which conjures the uncanny comparison of the Hollywood machinery and the governmental power play, supposedly making the most important decisions of a whole nation. In the end, the film seems to suggest, the show must go on.

As such, even thought somewhat simplistic in its treatment of the preliminary presidential campaign and all the conspiracies this entails, the film does raise some elemental ethical questions, the most important of which is whether it is better to win and have a chance to instate half the principles to believe in or whether to retain your ethical integrity, but lose. Even if the film's overall cinematography feels at times too glossy for its supposedly grim and realistic conveyance, while the emphasis on soured idealism, the backstabbing of the loyal minion (Y tu, Brutus!) and the intern as back-story might feel too contrived and simplistic for its own good, it does not diminish the necessity of films which raise elemental political questions and raise an awareness in an audience which must soon again make their way to the voting booth.