THE GHOST WRITER

THE GHOST WRITER is the personally reprehensible Roman Polanski’s attempt at a political thriller. Although it has the usual left-wing attacks on former President George Bush and the CIA, it is a stylish thriller that has a surprising amount of witty comedy. It also has some moral elements in three scenes, where the hypocrisy of those on the left who hate the CIA and Bush’s policies in the War on Terror becomes clear, but not clear enough to counter the movie’s Anti-American, politically correct worldview.

Taking place while President George W. Bush is still in office, the movie stars Ewan McGregor as a British ghost writer who gets a lucrative assignment to complete former Prime Minister Adam Lang’s memoirs. Apparently, Lang (played by Pierce Brosnan) was a supporter of President Bush’s policies in the War on Terror. The Ghost Writer is taking over for a longtime aide to Lang who drowned to death, an apparent suicide victim

Just as the Ghost Writer gets to Lang’s secluded beach house on the East Coast of the United States, news breaks that, while he was Prime Minister, Lang approved the transfer of several Muslim terrorists from Britain to the CIA, who waterboarded the men, killing one. The international war crimes office at The Hague wants to prosecute Lang as a war criminal. Lang gets no help from the Foreign Office Secretary he fired, who agrees publicly with The Hague, but the American government under Bush, which has refused to allow America to come under the Hague’s jurisdiction, promises to stand by Lang and help Lang.

In the midst of this controversy, the Ghost Writer loses his objectivity and starts investigating Lang’s past on his own. As he digs, he finds what looks to be a CIA-inspired conspiracy that puts his own life in danger.

Amid the thrilling tension, THE GHOST WRITER inserts some very funny, witty comedy and irony into its story, including the dialogue. For example, when the Ghost Writer has to abandon the car he’s driving and stay in a motel to escape a couple goons from the CIA, the American desk clerk jokes that “the Nanny” must have taken his missing car.

These lighter moments, played superbly by the cast, make THE GHOST WRITER lots of fun to watch. They also expertly lighten the mood and tension.

Regrettably, THE GHOST WRITER has plenty of foul language and scenes dealing with adultery. Also, although there are three scenes where the hypocrisy of the Bush and Tony Blair haters is exposed, the movie ends with the CIA being the villains. The movie also implies that Tony Blair, in the form of fictional character Adam Lang, was a stooge for the United States and American corporate interests, not just the CIA. Of course, in the opinion of many other people, it is good for Great Britain to be a close friend of the United States, including a supporter of its national and economic interests. Also, many people do not consider waterboarding to be torture, especially when innocent lives may be in immediate danger. Finally, the CIA, when it is run by conservative values that take into account the truth of man’s sinful nature and the power of God’s love, can be a good institution vital to the interests and security of most of the world’s people, not just those who live in the United States.