The Ides of March

Well, it was a Ryan Gosling kind of weekend for me, and for Hollywood, it has been a Ryan Gosling kind of summer, turned fall, and it doesn’t look like his reign on Hollywood will be stopping anytime soon. Gosling leads a star-studded cast alongside Paul Giamatti, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Evan Rachel Wood, Marisa Tomei and George Clooney, whom also directed the political thriller.

The Ides of March, this title carrying a double-meaning, is a film adaptation of the successful stage play Farragut North by Beau Willimon. March is the month in which the storyline of the film unfolds, and it is also a nod at the Shakespeare epic, Julius Caeasar which includes the line, “Beware the Ides of March,” where the word ides, meaning the 15^th of the month, is the day Caesar was stabbed to death by members of the Roman Senate. In other words, his death was a conspiracy of his own people against he, their king.

The film tells a very similar tale.  Gosling plays Stephen Meyers, Governor Morris’ (Clooney) very young, very intelligent, very talented, but even more naive press secretary. Repeated in the film, Stephen is quoted as saying that he will do anything, if he believes in it. For Stephen, politics is his life, simply and evidently, and what is more evident is his belief in Morris. As the movie unfolds, Meyers’ talents prove to be more of a curse than a blessing as things become very convoluted when the opposing campaign appears to want Stephen to work for them. From this point on, there is not much more I can say without giving too much of the plot away. I will say this- everything hits the fan when an intern exposes a secret about the Governor that quickly sends Meyers’ career on a downward spiral, and in order to save himself, and his career, his naïveté and quintessential political ideals quickly go astray.

The Ides of March is a gripping political thriller that came at a picture perfect time of the year and in this nation's history when Washington is torn apart politically, and at a time where we are currently heading into what looks to be another nasty, and potentially historical primary, as we gear up for election 2012. I love that with this film I got an inside perspective on what it takes to run a campaign. We only see one side of a campaign through the media. We see either the glitz and the glory of the next American hero, or we see the shame and disgrace of a fallen American hope. What we do not see as voters, and civilians of the United States is the story behind it all and how many lives one public figures downfall, or uprising effects. The Ides of March tells this story, and the details are sure to entice.