The Ides Of March

Rating: ***

GEORGE Clooney is not one to shy away from tough political stands or tough political roles. On the contrary,some of the roles he has done show him as an actor with a particularly keen understanding of how the system works,for both those within and without.

Here comes a film written and directed by Clooney — based on the play Farragut North — and featuring the run-up to the Ohio primary for the Democratic presidential nomination. It has a bustling campaign room,a dedicated junior campaign manager in Stephen Meyers (Gosling),two hardboiled campaign managers played by the seasoned Hoffman and Giamatti,and a Governor who looks as presidential in a grey suit and greying hairline as Clooney.

You expect to get a peek into a world that pulsates behind the densest and yet perhaps the most porous screens. You expect to hear passionate discussions about topics that concern the US and by extension the world,just discussions though these may remain. You expect to get moved or enraged at the way politics is played or the way it isn’t. You expect the cynical in you to have the last laugh,but you also expect the more optimistic in you to find things to take back home.

What you don’t expect is this: a strangely wishy-washy script,constructed around a few well-written,well-meaning speeches that would have done President Obama proud but should alarm him otherwise (“Don’t bury your heads in the sand,of Saudi Arabia,Iraq,bring on hydrogen cars,get world peace” — and so on). Most of these are delivered by the aforementioned Governor,Mike Morris (Clooney),addressing adoring crowds or students at townhall meetings. However,soon after his actual Obama-esque moment (even the Morris posters are an Obama copy),the film demolishes Morris with a scandal that never rings true of the person.

At the same time,The Ides Of March is also the deconstruction of the character of the junior campaign manager played with guarded naivety by Gosling. Stephen is the fast-rising star helping run Morris’s campaign not just because Morris has the best shot at the White House but because,Stephen believes,he is the right guy for it. Stephen is smart,driven and is making a difference — realised by both his boss Paul (Hoffman) and his rival Tom (Giamatti).

Stephen’s perfectly balanced world gets shaken when he accepts a call to meet Tom,who is running the other guy’s campaign,and starts an affair with an “intern” (Wood). Those prove two secrets too many for Stephen in a world that thrives on them,taking him by surprise,and us even more so.

Gosling,who has had a great run so far this year,pulls off the role perfectly till he is required to do an about-turn that,like in Clooney’s case,happens abruptly and rings too false a note. It’s Hoffman and Giamatti that this drama about the corruption and cynicism of politics derives its oxygen from. It’s people like them,working in the shadows,into the night,heard but not seen,who lay out the chessboard. They decide the fates of the Morrises,do-gooders or otherwise. Morris or no Morris,Stephen seems a long way away from getting his hands around the queen. Particularly when he has made a play for the only pawn that’s taboo — the intern.