The Ides of March
The Ides of March is a pretty literary title, and as a result I was expecting a fairly literary movie. I was not disappointed on that fact. George Clooney, who directed, starred, and co-wrote the film based on Beua Willimon’s play Farragut North, is an ageless tale of the corruptive powers of high-profile position. Following a fictitious liberal governor (Mike Morris played by Clooney) with purposefully admirable qualities of being both honorable and idealistic, the movie wraps us up in his campaign and the good that will be done should he receive the Democratic nomination. It’s timely in its political bent, but the themes and conflicts that emerge in the film are closer to the Shakespearian, even Classical literature from which the title originates.
Ryan Gosling has always played the young swaggering upstart with a tangible believability, and this movie is no different. As a young but unflappable campaign manager (Stephen Meyers), he nonetheless flirts with at a deal with the devil, meeting with a rival campaign manager to discuss his honor. Though he seemingly does the right thing (reveals the breach of trust to his own director), it nonetheless plays him in a tailspin of events that has all the literary of substance of a good tragedy. Caught in the middle is the young, beautiful intern (I know, it sounds cliché) who is the truest victim in this story. Played by Evan Rachel Wood, Molly Stearns gets caught up in the moral failings of both the governor and Meyers, becoming an unwitting pawn in both men’s ambitions. Read more about The Ides of March
