The Ghost Writer

[luke wilson]

I would like to know if anyone has seen this movie "The Ghost." I saw it the other night and I thought it was quite interesting. Some truth hidden in fiction? Maybe?

Plot
When a successful British ghostwriter agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, his agent assures him it is the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an accident. The ghostwriter flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court, unless he stays in the U.S. or goes to another country that does not recognize that court.

The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth, and his personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia. As the ghostwriter works, he uncovers clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind.

Lang is assassinated, but the ghostwriter eventually completes the book anyway. During the presentation of the book, the ghostwriter stumbles upon the final clues to the mystery in the original copy of the memoirs that reveals that...

Allusion to Tony Blair
As in the novel, the character of Adam Lang is a transparent allusion to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The BBC notes that the character "was inspired by Tony Blair", and that "the ghost of Tony Blair ... haunts the fictional Mr Lang, with references to Iraq, the 'war on terror', and a much too cosy relationship with the United States". It also notes, however, that the crime of which Lang is accused—handing British citizens over to the CIA to be tortured (in one case to death)—would probably not be deemed a war crime or a crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court, as the acts were not "committed as part of a policy that is executed on a wide scale".[4]

The actors who play Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart and the US Secretary of State physically resemble their real-life counterparts Robin Cook and Condoleezza Rice. Like the character Rycart, Cook had strong differences with the direction of the British Prime Minister in foreign policy matters.

Dont read the wiki page as I just realised it had some spoilers if you want to watch the movie(I have inserted ... where the spoilers are on the above quote). I have to warn you though that it is quite slow paced, the scenary is quite grey so I wouldnt call this a feel good movie. I just think it's interesting because the character Adam Lang is meant to mirror Tony Blair.

Here is the trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3376022553/

 

[knowledge_of_self]

I saw this movie a few months a go and I thought it was very well done. It was slow paced, but it was intriguing and it captured me. So I recommend it :)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1139328/

 

[Voyageur]

I would like to know if anyone has seen this movie "The Ghost." I saw it the other night and I thought it was quite interesting. Some truth hidden in fiction? Maybe?

Plot
When a successful British ghostwriter agrees to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang, his agent assures him it is the opportunity of a lifetime. But the project seems doomed from the start—not least because his predecessor on the project, Lang's long-term aide, died in an accident. The ghostwriter flies out to work on the project, in the middle of winter, to an oceanfront house on an island off the U.S. Eastern seaboard. But the day he arrives, a former British cabinet minister accuses Lang of authorizing the illegal seizure of suspected terrorists and handing them over for torture by the CIA—a war crime. Lang faces prosecution by the International Criminal Court, unless he stays in the U.S. or goes to another country that does not recognize that court.

The controversy brings reporters and protesters swarming to the island mansion where Lang is staying with his wife, Ruth, and his personal assistant (and mistress), Amelia. As the ghostwriter works, he uncovers clues suggesting his predecessor may have stumbled on a dark secret linking Lang to the CIA and that somehow this information is hidden in the manuscript he left behind.

Lang is assassinated, but the ghostwriter eventually completes the book anyway. During the presentation of the book, the ghostwriter stumbles upon the final clues to the mystery in the original copy of the memoirs that reveals that...

Allusion to Tony Blair
As in the novel, the character of Adam Lang is a transparent allusion to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The BBC notes that the character "was inspired by Tony Blair", and that "the ghost of Tony Blair ... haunts the fictional Mr Lang, with references to Iraq, the 'war on terror', and a much too cosy relationship with the United States". It also notes, however, that the crime of which Lang is accused—handing British citizens over to the CIA to be tortured (in one case to death)—would probably not be deemed a war crime or a crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court, as the acts were not "committed as part of a policy that is executed on a wide scale".[4]

The actors who play Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart and the US Secretary of State physically resemble their real-life counterparts Robin Cook and Condoleezza Rice. Like the character Rycart, Cook had strong differences with the direction of the British Prime Minister in foreign policy matters.

Dont read the wiki page as I just realised it had some spoilers if you want to watch the movie(I have inserted ... where the spoilers are on the above quote). I have to warn you though that it is quite slow paced, the scenary is quite grey so I wouldnt call this a feel good movie. I just think it's interesting because the character Adam Lang is meant to mirror Tony Blair.

Here is the trailer:

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3376022553/

Had seen this film years ago and actually watched it again the other week. It's a screen adaptation of Robert Harris's book, and Harris collaborated on the screenplay. In one interview, Robert Harris said he had envisioned a thread of Alfred Hitchcock running throughout the film. Harris only wrote it after a period when it was kicking around in his head and he needed something to give it a direction, which is where Tony Blair came in, the disgraced PM with something to hide, yet in this case it has a twist.

I thought it was pretty good, and liked when the actor Eli Wallach (the 'bad' in 'The Good, Bad and the Ugly") had his scene.

This film reviewer hated the film: http://www.slashfilm.com/movie-review-the-ghost-writer-this-review-includes-an-exclusive-note-from-alfred-hitchcocks-ghost/

"The film is based on the novel, The Ghost, a thinly veiled, accusatory condemnation of British Prime Minister Tony Blair by author Robert Harris, who co-wrote the screenplay with RP. Having not read the book, I was surprised by how scathing and open the film’s (and Polanski’s) politics and worldview are. Pierce Brosnan co-stars as the pompous, undeniable composite of Blair named Adam Lang. His quietly-catty staff (including a prim Kim Cattrall, cast as yet another adulterer) hires and instructs McGregor to be the latest ghost writer of Lang’s memoirs after the first “ghost” committed suicide."

He seems to not have liked the mirror on Tony, yet each to their own.

Above this description concerning the lead actor (Ewan McGregor), the reviewer writes:

...One could also argue that after his lead performance in The Ghost Writer, Ewan McGregor should promptly go roll around in the waves for the rest of his acting career. The guy seems to care so little about his work here that he fails to believably: type on a keyboard (re: his character is a professional writer), urgently ride a bicycle in a downpour (again, he does this with inexplicable la-di-da slowness), and talk at a GPS with any semblance of a person who is frustrated. (The geek-minded will likely flashback to dull R2-D2 exchanges.) Without spoiling the film, the life of McGregor’s nameless character is put in jeopardy as he falls down a post-9/11 rabbit hole in which world powers, shady Ivy Leaguers, and secret agencies may (or may not) be in longterm, shady cahoots.

Like I said, the basis of the film really set him off - and if he were to ever write a review on, let's say the movie JFK, it would likely be the same - "rabbit hole...".

Throughout the film there is this underlying humor in the dialogue and in how the actors are presented. There is very little violence (a good thing that would only strip away at the film, osit) among a landscape that is stark and eerie - wet, damp and wind swept.