“Official Secrets” Reveals Excellently

Release Date：Aug/30/2019
Genre：Biography/Drama/Romance
Director：Gavin Hood
Cast：Keira Knightley、Matthew Goode、Ralph Fiennes、Matt Smith、Rhys Ifans、Adam Bakri

Viola's Rating：7.8






It’s rather easy to stay strong, but it’s difficult to do something brave. People who work at intelligence agencies will know a bunch of top secrets, and some of them may involve details related to privacy or war information. If what the government’s doing is against what you believe, what do you do? “Official Secrets”, which was released on Aug 30, 2019, reveals one of the leaking incidents excellently.

Based on a true story, this American-British docudrama tells the story of a British whistleblower, Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), who leaked information to the press about an illegal National Security Agency spy operation designed to push the UN Security Council into sanctioning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Working at an intelligence agency doesn’t mean that Gun agrees with whatever the government says, and not agreeing doesn’t mean that she is definitely a spy, either, but still, leaking information violates federal law, thus speaking up for what she thinks is right takes extra courage. The then 29-year-old British worker does regret a bit, and after the news breaks out, she does panic, but overall, she stays firm, and determines to reveal what the US government is scheming.

To Gun, it is her conscious that she can’t betray. Even if it’s just a job, she still doesn’t want to do what’s against her belief. In the feature film, the audience can see how she struggles before she decides to sneak the memo out, and even though the fear stays after she confesses to her supervisor, she’s still pretty sure that her intention was to stop the war and save lives.

Politics is indeed everywhere. Since the memo is about the legitimacy of the US invading Iraq, it’s politics from the beginning, and after the UK gets involved, it’s even more complicated. Even Gun’s husband, who’s a Turkish waiting for citizenship, is influenced by the incident.

In “Official Secrets”, moviegoers can not only see how intelligence agencies work, but also take a look at how reporters investigate a lead they receive that could develop into breaking news. Just like Oscar winning film, “Spotlight”, revealing a scandal that’s worth a cover story requires careful verification. Therefore, besides the protagonist’s point of view on the incident, the supporting actor, which is the reporter who’s in charge of the story, has a fair amount of screen time. The flick not only displays how he deals with the shocking facts he discovers, but also presents how a simple action can ruin the whole team’s effort on things like journalism, which emphasizes on precision very much.

As a biographical drama with a little bit romance elements between Gun and her husband, “Official Secrets” is very tense through and through, and with Keira Knightley’s amazing acting skill, the secret is revealed excellently.

Photo Credit: IMDb