You could make a nuanced film about official secrets: one that accepts that the government has the need, in general, to protect them, but about how they way they do so leaves the public with little protection from abuse of power. Or you could make a heart-on-sleeve film about a particular case, as this film does with its clear message: that the British government went to war in Iraq for bad reasons, and lied to the people about why it was doing so. I actually agree with that message, and as a true story, this film should be especially powerful, but 'Official Secrets' is sadly just amateurish. The sets are crude (bland signs put up on generic buildings to tell us what they are); bad acting (characters shout randomly to show they are angry); and masses of expositionary dialogue (even to the point where in one case someone tells someone else something they they would obviosuly already know, the script tries to cover this up by having the recipient of this information effectively reply "why are you telling me that?"). It cumulates in a courtroom scence where the judge tries to prevent the prosecution barrister from dropping his case, and the barrister defends his client by going far beyond his brief, acting as a (predictably unpersausive) government spokesperson. One can consider Katharine Gun a hero; but this is like a school play of her life.
Review of Official Secrets
