ReelBob: ‘Official Secrets’ ★★★★½

By Bob Bloom

“Official Secrets” is a political-whistleblower drama that details the depths to which a government will sink not to protect its national security but prevent embarrassing itself and keep its citizens in the dark about its actions.

Some of the movie — which is set in motion by a leaked memo in which the United States asked the British government to help collect compromising information on United Nations Security Council members so they could be blackmailed into voting for an invasion of Iraq — may remind you of 2010’s “Fair Game.”

In that film, CIA official Valerie Plame is outed in retaliation by the Bush administration for an article her husband, diplomat Joe Wilson, wrote in the “New York Times,” saying the administration’s claims that Iraq obtained yellowcake uranium from Niger for use in construction of nuclear weapons was false.

“Official Secrets” stars Keira Knightley as Katharine Gun, a British intelligence specialist, who, in early 2003, receives a memo from the National Security Agency, outlining the directive to launch an illegal war.

Gun is shocked by the memo and, after some soul-searching, decides to leak it to a friend active in Britain’s antiwar movement, despite it being illegal to do so.

The friend passes on the memo to a journalist at “The Observer” newspaper, which later publishes the email.

That, of course, creates shockwaves in Britain and the United States and sets Tony Blair’s government on a mission to find the leaker.

Gun, who is married to a Kurdish-Turkish Muslim, initially denies she is the culprit, but when security personnel begin to use lie detectors to harass her coworkers, she steps forward and admits her actions to protect them.

As portrayed by Knightley, Gun is an idealist. She says she made the memo public to try to prevent the war and save lives.

The film, directed by Gavin Hood (“X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” “Eye in the Sky,” “Ender’s Game”), uses a multipronged approach to tell its story.

While the main thrust is on Gun, it also details how reporters at “The Observer,” most notably Martin Bright (Matt Smith), Peter Beaumont (Matthew Goode) and Ed Vulliamy (Rhys Ifans), worked to confirm the authenticity and accuracy of the leaked document.

The British government does not fare well here. Hood depicts how, because of Gun’s actions, she is jailed for a short time but not charged, how she is harassed and surveilled and how her husband is threatened with deportation.

A human-rights group, which includes lawyer Ben Emmerson (Ralph Fiennes), defends Gun by seeking government documents that would prove the United States bullied Britain into declaring that an illegal war was, indeed, legal.

Because this is based on a true story, the resolution of Gun’s case is public record. I will not divulge it, even though it’s not really the relevant focus of the movie.

Plus, “Official Secrets” is more a character-driven story than a historical feature.

The movie is more about a government’s misuse of its power and public trust than about one individual’s moral stance and actions.

In today’s divisive, global political climate, a movie such as “Official Secrets” is important because it stresses and showcases how one scared but determined person can — without having to raise her voice — shine a spotlight on a government that cares more about protecting itself than its citizens.

I am a founding member of the Indiana Film Journalists Association. My reviews appear at ReelBob (reelbob.com) and Rottentomatoes (www.rottentomatoes.com). I also review Blu-rays and DVDs. I can be reached by email at bobbloomjc@gmail.com or on Twitter @ReelBobBloom. Links to my reviews can be found on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

OFFICIAL SECRETS 4½ stars out of 5 (R), language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t64H3S7r4wo