7/10
How doing the right deed can get you in trouble unjustly.
13 September 2021
Official Secrets is a new drama thriller directed and written in part by Gavin Hood the director of Eye in the Sky and X-men Origins: Wolverine.

The film is about the true story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), who works as an interpreter. Here she translates a memo on information about how the 2003 Iraq invasion became possible. She shares this information and so it ends up with journalist Martin Bright (Matt Smith), who shares it with the rest of the world. When asked who his source is, an investigation is launched that leads back to Katharine's company. Katharina is so faced with the choice to confess that she leaked the memo at the risk of ending up as a traitor. If she keeps quiet, the war can continue and the number of war casualties increases without the world knowing that this war could have been prevented.

This film does a good job of showing how doing the right thing can unjustly get someone into trouble due to the corrupt side of government. As a result, the main character can lose everything as a result of this good deed, such as her job, marriage and eventually end up unjustly in prison.

The film uses real footage of the news and how politicians reacted to it in an effort to cover up their actions. With the information now known about what certain politicians used to do that led to wrong things, this film shows how these people tried to hide this from the rest of the world. This also shows how she corruptly suppressed people who tried to share this news with the world. This also responds to current events where politicians are still doing things wrong and people get into trouble because of their mistakes.

The acting is well done by the film cast. This is another of Keira Knightley's best major role in a movie since 2014's The Imitation Game. She conveys well how doing a good deed to a corrupt politician can get someone in trouble. In this way she changes her role from hero to person in hiding until the end to unjust victim. Matt Smith plays his part well too, but his character comes across more as an intermediate role who ends up sharing the main character's actions with the world in a bigger way. Later in the film, Ralph Fiennes also plays the role of Katharine her lawyer, who tries to ensure justice despite everything.
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