The Ides of March is a dark and gripping political thriller directed and produced by George Clooney, who slides this fictional movie very effectively into the tense current political climate. His message may be about change, but it is far from hopeful. Instead, it asks the question that has been floating around in people’s minds: “Is the system broken?”
The film takes place during the last few days of a hotly contested Ohio Primary for a Presidential nomination. The election is consequently decided without the intervention of the people or the democratic process. This throws the doors open on what many fear the political process has become: an election decided by the media circus and backroom deals. The American people are reduced to a statistic that barely matters.
You can feel Clooney’s disgust for the whole electoral process, especially for the “importance” a candidate’s religion and height seem to hold. One line truly encompasses the corruption of the political process in America: “You can start a war, you can lie, you can cheat and you can steal, but you cannot f— interns.” It leaves us reeling from what politics has become. Instead of seeing the election as a whole, Clooney shows us it’s minutia where every word and every action made by each worker has far reaching consequences.
Ides of March is especially potent as it lacks the violence we’ve been taught to expect of our thrillers as relief from the mounting tension. There are moments where you crave violence if only to make things simpler. This makes the actions themselves more powerful. If a conversation or a look means everything, then there is no situation in which the audience can relax. Clooney ratchets up the tension throughout the entire film withholding release, keeping the audience on the edge of their seats.
This thriller keeps it close to reality where seemingly insignificant actions, small mistakes, can be devastating. However, it is not just a political commentary or tension-filled thriller. It is a story of growing up in the worst of ways. Ryan Gosling’s character is idealistically hopeful, optimism drained away and replaced by Machiavelli.
The Ides of March is a subtle yet pulse-pounding thriller that will keep you glued to the screen, but George Clooney paints a more serious message: a picture of a broken system with the broken people who inhabit it.
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