THE IDES OF MARCH

“...Loyalty. Without it you are nothing.”

Strangely, something so virtuous has become something rather elusive in the 21st century. It can wane for indeterminate amounts of time, from seemingly the most upstanding people. Anyone – nay everyone – seems rife for betrayal. Sometimes disloyalty can come from the very leaders we elect. Other times it can come from the people who influence us enough to elect them. One thing is for sure though: The cost for disloyalty is steep.

Democratic governor Mike Morris (George Clooney) is running for president of The United States. He has the confidence, the character, and the policies to get the top job, but first he has to worry about securing his party’s nomination. Guiding him through that are his top advisors Paul (Phillip Seymour-Hoffman) and Stephen (Ryan Gosling). They have pored over every speech, plotted the best path to success, and slowly turned Morris into an American beacon of hope.

The problem is that not everybody thinks so.

Running against Morris for the candidacy is Senator Pullman, whose campaign is being guided by Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti). He seems to think that his man has what it takes not only to win the nomination, but to ultimately take the presidency. What’s more, if you give him two minutes, he’ll do a great job of convincing you why he’s right.

As Morris’ run for office enters a crucial stage, Stephen must keep a pesky journalist named Ida (Marissa Tomei)in his pocket and get her to write what would best suit his boss. He also has to keep from getting too distracted by a bright-eyed intern named Molly (Evan Rachel Wood). But that’s the great thing about Stephen: He has so much confidence, that he seems completely capable of handling it all with ease.

That is, until the wheels begin to fall off…

This is the sort of film I long for nowadays. A film made for adults that is essentially a clinic in acting, writing and directing. It should be seen as proof-positive that George Clooney is the next great actor-director of Hollywood, and could soon be mentioned alongside names like Redford and Eastwood. It’s a film designed to bring out the best in capital-A-actors, and yet another piece of evidence that Ryan Gosling can do no wrong these days.

Politics abound in THE IDES OF MARCH, but it’s not what I’d call a political film. This is not a movie that wants to knock around the red states, or the blue states, but instead wants to take a look at the political process itself. This careful calculation is what helps the film achieve, since it spends the energy other films might spend on making a political point on furthering the story.

Take for instance a great scene where two things are happening at once. On-stage in a town hall, Morris is giving an impassioned speech about his vision of America. Behind him, in all its splendour, is a gigantic American flag serving as a backdrop and reminder for what he stands for. While all of this is going on, a whole separate conversation is happening backstage, and without getting into particulars, it involves Stephen fessing up a secret to Paul. They exchange heated whispres while primarily appearing as silouettes against the majesty of Ol’ Glory. Just goes to show you: The champion might be up in front of you, telling you exactly what you want to hear, but behind him, in the shadows, the dirty little secrets that got him there are being discussed.

The politics in the film are actually much more contained to what happening behind the scenes. To get any candidate within a sniff of success these days, there’s a lot of work that needs to happen behind the scenes. The work needs to come from bulldogs like the Paul and Tom, and the work also needs to come from quarterbacks like Stephen. As Paul points out, one of the things that endears Stephen to everyone that can help him, is how effortless he makes it all seem. Not only is that what we want in our leaders, but it’s what we seem to want in the people around our leaders. But of course, it’s all an act…a game…a persona put on to imply confidence.

In some ways, this movie reminds me of the sorts of films Hollywood used to make in the 1970’s…when moral ambiguity was woven into the fabric of movies at every turn. What people need to remember, is that no political beacon is above that ambiguity. All too often, a great white hope that appears on the horizon of governance has buried a lot of bodies to pave the very path that they walk. It’s a film that shows the amount of rust “Yes We Can” has gathered in three short years, and seems to encapsulate America’s wariness of its leadership.

Perhaps much of that wariness comes down to first point about loyalty. The title of course is an allusion to one of history’s most famous betrayals, and in days like these, loyalty seems to be harder and harder to come by. Bosses seldom feel a loyalty to their employees, workers are shrugging off loyalties to their employers. One has to wonder how things have come to this? That’s not to say that we should live without any sort of dissent, but when was it that loyalty became so easily dispensed? I could hazard a guess that disloyalty often stems from a momentary lapse in judgement…one of those incidents that you look back on later and say “Why the hell did I just do that?”. Indeed, disloyalty isn’t always malicious – the problem though is that the fallout is usually severe, and the consequences don’t care how innocent the err in judgement was.

Matineescore: ★ ★ ★ ★ out of ★ ★ ★ ★

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