Sunday, March 28, 2010

Writing Politics: The Ghost Writer


Roman Polanski's new thriller The Ghost Writer is about the way political images are manufactured. The film is a multi-faceted take on the political thriller, a picture full of pointed insights into the political process. While functioning as a tightly crafted genre effort, what intrigues me most about The Ghost Writer is the way it engages with a time when the media sets the tone for political discourse, and how the narrative that the mainstream media forges is as carefully honed and crafted as fiction, perhaps even more so. In an era where the media is omnipresent, The Ghost Writer tackles the power - and danger - of political myth making.

Ewan McGregor stars as an unnamed ghost writer (credited only as "The Ghost" in the credits) assigned to edit the incoherent memoirs of an ex British Prime Minister ("All the words are there, they're just not in the right order", he remarks after reading the manuscript) after the original ghost writer dies. The Ghost quickly finds himself in the midst of a political firestorm as the International Criminal Court announces that the Prime Minister is going to be arraigned on charges of war crimes, specifically sanctioning torture against terrorists. So pronounced are the parallels between the film's fictional Prime Minister, Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan), and Tony Blair that the character may as well be named after him: he left office by resigning, and is accused of being in the tank for America (specifically for helping to sanction the Iraqi Occupation and global War on Terror). Olivia Williams plays Lang's wife, and the film makes it very clear from the get-go that she was, and remains, the power behind the throne (an accusation leveled at many famous political wives).

As the scandal surrounding Lang gets more and more intense, the Prime Minister's office forces The Ghost to move in with them, so as to avoid the press finding out who he is. He is hesitant to do this, as he thinks moving in with clients makes it difficult to maintain a strictly professional decorum, and he is quickly proven correct, as almost immediately he gets intimately involved in the personal and political dealings of the Prime Minister's office. And when The Ghost helps draft a political speech, one designed to save face in the midst of this scandal, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Harris make one of the most sophisticated political barbs in modern movies, brilliantly equating political speech writing with fiction. Especially considering that many of our current leaders would more than likely be unable to speak without their teleprompters spewing words at them that are more heavily scripted than most television, this sequence has a particular bite to it.

Roman Polanski's direction expertly toes the line between restraint and expressionistic, allowing the tension to build slowly and deliberately before it explodes. Even sequences of dialogue have an underpinning of unease to them, and that's because Polanski instills many moments with a dark sense of foreboding, as though you don't know what's around the next corner. His direction is tight and economical, and Alexandre Desplat's score perfectly underlines the drama and tension.

It's difficult, if not impossible, to ignore the parallels between the exiled Prime Minister and Polanski himself, who edited this movie from a Swiss jail cell. I'm sure many things intrigued him about Robert Harris' novel, but I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest that this element of the story was probably the hook for Polanski. He poignantly dramatizes what exile does to the human psyche, while never telling us exactly how to feel about the Prime Minister's predicament - rather, he just wants us to understand it. Polanski paints the portrait of the Prime Minister as a man with very serious flaws - that he was in over his head, too ideologically compromised, subservient to the agenda of others, and more about image than substance - but a man, nevertheless, mercifully avoiding mean spirited vilification or idol worship.

The Ghost Writer also stands as an extremely perceptive deconstruction of the political machine; as The Ghost sinks further and further into the mystery of his deceased predecessor, it becomes more and more apparent that Lang is a puppet, serving the interests of a global military industrial complex as opposed to the people of his country. The Ghost happens upon a file left by his predecessor that leads him to Professor Paul Emmet, a shady character who clearly has some sort of connection to Lang's past, though he emphatically denies this until confronted with photographic evidence. As The Ghost digs deeper, he realizes that this man is a C.I.A. agent and was Lang's American handler - and this, obviously, is the reason for all the pro-American decisions he made while in office. It's revealed that Lang was an actor while in college, and this is undoubtedly why he was chosen: he could play the role of Prime Minister and allow others to make the decisions for him. Like many of the world's current leaders, Lang was just playing the role of a leader and making appearances, while others behind closed doors pulled the strings.

Like Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island, this is the sort of story that Hollywood used to tell well; an ingeniously scripted, tightly directed genre effort. The story isn't merely told, but rather it unfolds, and we feel like we're uncovering the clues - and therefore the truth about modern politics - right along with The Ghost. It culminates in an ending that is both surprising and foregone, and a final shot (reminiscent of the famous final shot from Stanley Kubrick's The Killing) that is both comic and tragic, a brilliant evocation of the hopelessness of trying to tell the truth in a world that knows only lies. It's hard to tell whether Polanski wants us to laugh or cry.

15 comments:

Jake said...

I've been beating the drum for this film for two weeks now and I'll keep beating it until the damn skin bursts. It's reminded me that I need to really watch the rest of Polanski's films, because I consider all the ones I've seen to be at least near-masterpieces. I haven't seen such arresting bookend shots in quite some time, and everything in-between is just as captivating, funny, gently unsettling and thought-provoking. And here I've been these last two weeks wondering if I underrated it.

rob humanick said...

Jake, I thought the film was awesomely bookended as well. The manifestation of the title in the end struck me as a bit cheesy (I think a cut to black amidst all that fluttering would have been much more devastating), but the hold on that angle of the street is a kicker, and the opening image of that ship is among the more psychologically intimidating to grace the screen in some time (doesn't the screen just swell in those opening moments?). Awesome pic, Jake. Toshiro Mifune is the shit.

Marilyn said...

Ryan, wonderful review of a film that has been getting a lot of mixed verdicts. I always think Polanski films are worth seeing - I don't think I've ever been disappointed. I have to admit that the subject matter of this one doesn't really interest me because I've been living the real thing for decades. But I'll most likely see it because of Polanski.

Ryan Kelly said...

Jake, there's always at least something noteworthy about Polanski's films, so yes, see more! I need to catch up on some of his earlier stuff, myself.

I love the way you describe it as "captivating, funny, gently unsettling and thought provoking", because the most remarkable thing about the movie, to me, is the way it goes to such dark thematic places yet never feels oppressively dour or cynical (like Michael Clayton felt to me, though I do like that movie). It balances being dark and light-hearted with a perfect ease.

And Rob, that took me a little out of the movie at first as well, but I think it's perfectly in line with the film's good natured spirit.

Ryan Kelly said...

Marilyn, I forget where I read this, but someone wrote that The Ghost Writer is "the best adaptation of an airport novel ever filmed", or something along those lines. That's about right, I think. So don't let the source material turn you off, because I think Polanski does something really special with it.

Jake said...

Marilyn, I cannot recommend the film enough. The only negative reviews I've seen typically brought it up for being a too distanced from the characters aesthetically, but I don't think the film loses its power for it. Rather, I think it's a grand extrapolation of that scene in Rosemary's Baby where he places the camera just outside the room where she's on the phone (the shot that reportedly caused a test audience to lean in unison in an attempt to see around the corner). It's the distance that, perversely, draws us in, because it sparks curiosity and apprehension.

Marilyn said...

It's not the airport novel thing. It's the whole Faux News/image making/style over substance life the U.S. has descending into. Polanski has an outsider status, so he may be able to bring something new to the table, but really, can fiction trump reality -teabaggers, Tiller the Baby Killer, Sarah Palin/Tina Fey, etc.

Adam Zanzie said...

So glad you loved the film as much as I did, Ryan. I'm just about talked-out concerning The Ghost Writer by now, but your exhaustive analysis is nothing short of a winner. Nice catch there on The Killing, too. The ending originally reminded me of Michael Douglas' typewriter pages flying all over the place in Curtis Hanson's Wonder Boys, but the comparison to Kubrick is far more appropriate indeed. So, probably, is the theme. The Ghost's death is just as unfortunate as Sterling Hayden's last words: "Ehh, what's the point?"

Marilyn, I assure you that this movie is not a mishmash of tired political jargon. When I saw the trailers, I was worried at first- they made the film look like something out of a mediocre John Grisham treatment (can anyone guess that I'm not a Grisham fan?). But as the film rolls along, it becomes something so absorbing, so mystifying and... ghostly. I can't think of a better way to sum it up at the moment.

Also, not that it's one of Polanski's trademarks or anything, but I JUST NOW realized how similar Olivia Williams' character is to Lady Macbeth. Wow...

Ryan Kelly said...

Marilyn, I honestly think the film offers some of the only sane discourse on this subject that I've ever seen. With The Ghost Writer it's not so much fiction trumping reality as it is channeling reality into fiction.

Ryan Kelly said...

Adam, great call on the comparison to Lady Macbeth! Though thankfully the film doesn't ram any Shakesperean evocations down your throat, which is not to say that they're not there.

Tony Dayoub said...

I just caught this film yesterday, and I don't hesitate to call it the best film I've seen this year (which is not to damn it with faint praise). Olivia Williams really steals the picture, and Kim Catrall is not bad either which goes to show Polanski's acute regard for women and their sensibilities in all of his films (REPULSION is a great example).

It took my reading your review to realize that the writer never is actually named, is he? That is especially appropriate considering the subtext and how it applies to Polanski's own life (which I intend to address in my own review later); and ironic considering how often we hear his late predecessor's name, Mike McAra.

Ryan Kelly said...

It is an interesting conundrum that a director whose reputation is defined by the rape of a woman, and a young girl at that, puts forth an incredibly sensitive and nuanced portrait of women in his films. His portrait of women would be fascinating and dynamic divorced from his act, but it's hard for me to divorce that he did perhaps the most hateful and misogynist thing a man could do to a woman, yet has such an intimate understanding of them.

It is very fitting that the ghost is never named, though I think McGregor fleshes out the character and makes him more than just an audience surrogate. And it makes his ultimate fate all the more fitting.

Greg said...

I'm tired of seeing this post. Put up a new one. NOW!

Ryan Kelly said...

Seeing your comment made me realize "Oh, snap, I have a blog! Where I write... stuff..." Thanks for the reminder!

Amelia said...

Great review. After reading the finest detail about this movie I am curious to watch this movie. I will look out for a DVD or search for this movie online to watch it soon. Thanks for this great write up.
The Ghost Writer Online