Film review:The Ghost Writer

Picture a world where civil liberties have gone out of the window because of the war on terror. Picture a world where the US rides roughshod over the rights of foreign detainees. Picture a world where the UK trots along behind, doing the US’s dirty work for it. Yes, readers, I know it’s difficult to imagine. But this alien-sounding place is the world of Roman Polanski’s conspiracy thriller The Ghost Writer (or The Ghost, as it has been titled for UK audiences – we may be the US’s poodle politically, but you can damn sure trust us to pick up on your linguistic subtleties).

In the midst of it all is poor old Ewan McGregor, playing a nameless author thrust into a Hitchcockian adventure when he is recruited to ghostwrite the memoirs of the recently retired British prime minister. The dashing ex-PM Adam Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan – don’t laugh, it’s more plausible than Hugh Grant in Love Actually, at least) is a messianic figure, intractably convinced that the Iraq War was entirely justified, with a feisty and sharp-tongued wife. Again, the more perceptive among you may be hearing a distant bell ringing. Ewan is packed off to the former PM’s hideaway, a remote island off the US mainland, to replace a previous ghostwriter who has expired in mysterious circumstances. The current manuscript for the memoirs is about as thrilling a read as the Yellow Pages. But Ewan’s job gets more interesting when Blair – sorry, Lang – is accused of war crimes, a vocal mob of protestors come to hunt the suave politician down and a gnarled local reveals that Ewan’s predecessor’s death was not all it seemed.

Polanski does an excellent job of depicting Lang, a high-profile figure accused of a serious crime, living in a big posh house and avoiding certain countries so he doesn’t get arrested. Impressive powers of empathy there – from the high-profile figure accused of a serious crime, living in a big posh house and avoiding certain countries so he doesn’t get arrested. But while the controversial director’s personal life may be distasteful, you can’t argue with his professional skills: The Ghost is a cracking thriller, pacy, atmospheric and exciting. There’s nothing novel here – it’s the usual mix of the good guy being chased by agents in black SUVs (hey spooks, ever thought that if you varied the vehicle and color from time to time your targets might not realize you’re tailing them?), sinister men in suits, Bourne-style gloom and improbable plot twists, but it’s all great fun.

McGregor is perfect as the cynical, heavy drinking hack for hire (is there any other kind in Hollywood?), and though Brosnan is way too handsome and debonair to be a British politician, his performance – a slightly less flippant, more stressed out version of his Bond role – is fine. Two intriguing female characters – Adam’s tough Cherie Blair-esque wife (Olivia Williams) and his self-assured personal assistant, with emphasis on the personal, (Kim Cattrall) – add to the intricacy, with both actors getting their chops into their parts.

The director doesn’t hesitate to labor the real-life parallels. Lookalike actors have been chosen to play the Robin Cook (dissenting British foreign secretary) and Condoleezza Rice (hawkish US secretary of state) roles, and Williams is a sort of Hollywood (ie more attractive) version of Cherie Blair. Seeing as he is already wanted in America for rape, Polanski probably doesn’t have much to lose by ramming home his point. This verisimilitude adds a frisson to proceedings, but The Ghost stands alone as an enjoyably effective thriller regardless.