I think this movie would make a lot more sense if I was British. I feel bad for all these American thrillers other countries have had shoved down their throats for years, because they really assume the audience knows the agency structure going in. I'm sure Official Secrets is a well written examination of the interworking and competing structures in the UK government, but I often felt myself lost. Even just figuring out who the GCHQ were was tough. Then, when Kiera Knightley as Katharine Gun is facing legal repercussions, I struggled to grasp what it all meant. I'm not a complete idiot. I understood the broad strokes, however it's fair to say this movie was made with a more British audience in mind. I had a hard time getting to that final level to understanding the stakes. It's a fine political drama. All the performances from a ton of familiar faces such as Knightley, Matt Smith, and Rhys Ifans are exactly what they need to be. This is a nice British counterpart to Cate Blanchett's Truth, which went similarly ignored by everyone.
Verdict: Weakly Don't Recommend
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