Send in the Clooney

Politics is a tricky thing. There is nothing more public than the process of democracy. It is in its very nature the centre of all things public and communal.

But the personal CANNOT be extracted from the political, because it is the people that run the politics.

Wow, Danne, way to start your first proper post in AGES in the driest most boring possible way ever! (Recent posts have sneakily been drafts lying in wait.)

I'm not really ashamed of it, but I am a bit of a politics nerd. I watch Q & A religiously. I take matters of society and power quite seriously. I don't necessarily think Julia Gillard is a particularly strong or reliable leader, but I do like some things that she does. Blowing up the pokies, for instance. And I am quite fanatically fond of The West Wing. In fact there lots of political films that I love. Wag The Dog. Primary Colours. V for Vendetta...


So The Ides of March. I think it wins for Movie Poster of the Year. (Is there a competition for that? There should be.) This is What George Clooney Did Next. I loved Good Night & Good Luck, it spoke to the lefty communist that hides inside me. I liked it in a Wow McCarthy Was A Total Fascist And Bush Isn't That Much Better kind of way. Clooney is a very handsome man, with an exceptional talent for seamless performances and comic timing, especially in the hands of my beloved Coen Bros (who seem to have gone all serious now...). I can't say at I have ever really fancied him in a PHWOAR! kind of fashion. And this is a very healthy thing. When he porked up a little and grew a beard for Syriana he kind of resembled my father. And the only thing more disturbing than watching a dude who looks like your dad getting his fingernails pulled out as a part of a torture scene is the possibility of fancying someone who resembles your father. Digress, much? I guess the point is, I think Clooney is cool and I like what he does.

And as such, I like Ides of March. This title comes from Shakespeare, another dude whose work I hold in high esteem. Julius Caesar in fact. Old Bill's tale of political assassination has links with the corruption and back room dealings of Ides but that is kind of where the similarities end. The lovely Alice Tynan thinks that this is a serious flaw in this film - it doesn't live up to the lofty heights of the title.

In the final stages of a fictional primary election in the US, Lefty governor Mike Morris (Clooney himself) is fighting for his spot on the presidential ballot. Ides follows the press secretary Stephen Myers (Gosling) feeling his way up the ladder of political behind the scenes. He is initially supported by the very intense mentor/campaign manager Paul (Phillip Seymour Hoffman - my goodness he is a phenomenal performer) and intern Molly (Evan Rachel Wood). The interpersonal relationships at the heart of the political machine play out between these characters, with Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) weighing in as Paul's nemesis, and the dude behind The Other Guy's campaign.

Morris talks Big Ideas of Politics - foreign policy, defense, education, the environment and the car industry. Sometimes there is just a nuance that Clooney loaded this political flick with these speeches to give him a chance to express these ideas. While he harps on about the bug stuff, the petty conflicts of the personal shape how the debates are constructed. Because his opponent is short, in the first scene, Myers requests taller lecterns for a debate. The jealousies that drive party minds are rife. Ambition, lust, greed for power. Wrath, secrets and deceptions. Marisa Tomei's New York Times journo is affably manipulative.

This film reminds us that it is people tat are behind politics, and that is why the systems are so flawed. Communism works, in theory, but is brought crashing down by the inevitability of human corruption and greed. The free market democracy is also open to this serious human flaw.

The corollary of this is that not only is it the personal that drives the political machine, but the politics profoundly impacts the lives of the individuals. Who they shag, what they drive, where they work, how they deal with scandal. These decisions are of course our own, but they are sparked or at lest influenced by people in suits in closed rooms with fluro lighting.

While some might say this film has lessons to teach about integrity and honesty, I believe it is about how important it is to ANSWER YOUR FUCKING PHONE!! Each twist, each turn, each disaster, at a micro or macro level, could be avoided if the character who OWNED the phone just answered it when they were called. Not too much to ask?

There is a touch of The West Wing to this movie. The behind the scenes of politics context will make comparisons unavoidable. I really think George was aiming for a Sorkin-esque snappy dialogue kind of movie, and I don't think he quite nailed it. But the sense of homage is certainly there. Unfortunately, my beloved Josh Lyman and CJ Craig are not. But that is what DVDs are for.

I really enjoyed this film. It is certainly allow burner, and definitely not Sparky's cup of tea, but for a family Boxing Day flick, it was perfect. Raising questions, getting us talking. If we had have gone in expecting the pomp of Shakespeare, the snap of Sorkin or the usual fireworks of a Boxing Day Blockbuster, I fear we would have been disappointed. But we weren't. Happy family viewing. For the slightly politically geeky family.