|
Roman Polanski’s film, “The Ghost Writer,” is a well-told tale
of a conspiracy theory that is, if a viewer pauses to consider the
idea, thoroughly implausible because completely unnecessary. It’s also
an enjoyable, suspenseful story.
Contradictory, yes, but since when is the unbelievable
unentertaining? After all, John Grisham launched a lucrative career on
the ludicrous notion that the Mafia needed to secretly control an
entire law firm. When it’s no secret that attorneys are eagerly bought,
why bother? Still, “The Firm” was a runaway best-seller and its movie
adaptation was a worldwide box-office draw that earned into the nine
figures.
“The Ghost Writer” will not enjoy a similar success, but it’s
far better. The director, Roman Polanski, shows what he has learned
from Alfred Hitchcock and applies the master’s film methods to good
effect, maintaining a taut line of suspense throughout.
The cinematography, for instance, is essential to the
storytelling. The gloomy setting—the dark, barren Cape Cod landscape
beset by driving rain and wind—mirrors the barely revealed emotional
turmoil of the central characters and complements the story’s themes.
Nonetheless, despite its other qualities, what makes the film
stand out is the unraveling of the plot. The conflict that initiates
that plot, before it spirals into deeper and more sinister ones, seems
straightforward though difficult enough. The former prime minister of
England, Adam Lang (a Tony Blair double, played superbly by Pierce
Brosnan), has been dictating his memoirs in an exclusive retreat on
Martha’s Vineyard when his ghost writer turns up drowned.
Meanwhile, Lang has been yanked back in the news, facing
accusations from the International Court of Justice (the Hague) that as
prime minister he authorized war crimes against suspected terrorists.
Now the publishers insist the book be completed within a month to
capitalize on Lang’s notoriety. So, a new ghost (the unnamed character
played by Ewan McGregor) is hired, promptly mugged and robbed after
leaving the publisher’s office with what’s thought to be Lang’s
manuscript, and dispatched to the U.S.
The ghost is an experienced writer, someone who can quickly
churn the pot to boiling, but a political naïf, foolish enough to
believe his lack of experience will be a virtue.
Not so. Inside of Lang’s fortress-like house, every character
is hiding secrets and engaging in betrayal. Complicating the ghost’s
mission are two significant women in Lang’s life: his brainy,
power-behind-the-throne wife and his personal assistant/secretary, who
seems in many ways to be replacing an increasingly bitter Ms. Lang.
This level of domestic complication and intrigue only adds to the
larger mystery.
The most vital plot twist occurs when the ghost discovers his
deceased predecessor’s notes and hidden files. The meaning of this
material turns out to be tantalizingly incomplete, but there’s enough
information to expose some of Lang’s deceptions and to hint at deeper
secrets yet unrevealed.
For the ghost, the discovery, understanding, and arrangement of
these secrets into a meaningful pattern make up the complex and lengthy
plot. The overall arc of the story is a movement from innocence, to
questions, to suspicion, and, finally, fatal certainty.
Only in the film’s closing minutes is the mystery revealed, but
this solution merely settles one question while raising others which
cannot be answered. The larger puzzle is still incomplete by the end.
This satisfactory irresolution sustains the film’s tone of mystery and
suspicion, and the theme of helplessness in the face of powerful,
malevolent forces. At the end, the criminal conspirators are still in
control.
It’s nonsense, of course, as anyone who has read “The Communist
Manifesto” could point out. No conspiracy theory is needed to explain
the real crime in the story—the alliance of capitalist nations busily
pursuing their class interests. That’s a film yet to be made.
|