The Ghost of Elections Past...

Well, here we are - Election Day 2010! But, like Chris Tarrant cruelly snatching the cheque back, I'm not going to talk to you about that, but instead begin my tenure as a reviewer by reviewing the not un-topical The Ghost which I viewed yesterday.

Based on the 2007 novel (which caused somewhat of a stir at the time) by Robert Harris, The Ghost follows a ghost writer hired to add a touch of sheen the memoirs of a former PM, but of course things are never so simple and the mysterious death of the writer's predecessor and an extradition order placed on the head of ex-PM Adam Lang to face war crimes charges in the Hague for the handing over of terror suspects to the CIA through extraordinary rendition (ringing a few bells?) quickly make the writer's position an unenviable one.

In the film adaptation (co-written by Harris and, rather portentously, Roman Polanski who also directed), Ewan McGregor plays the titular ghost and Pierce Brosnan plays pseudo-Blair Adam Lang. Of course I am by no means the first point out the parallels between Lang's situation and the director's own. Polanski was arrested en route to the Zurich Film Festival on a 30 year old charge of unlawful intercourse and completed the post production of the film under house arrest.

Polanski and Harris have crafted a film that is both an often witty politcial satire and a tense thriller. McGregor's (appropriately) anonymous ghost writer develops from lowbrow, jobbing hack to terrified investigator as he sets out to discover the circumstances of his predecessor's tragic drowning and finds a little more than he bargained for, delving deeper into a world of exile, Machiavellian political canniving and genuine threat.

Veteran director Polanski has the experience to understand the difference between a ponderous and a slow pace. The Ghost is ponderous but to accuse it of not moving quickly enough is to miss the point somewhat, I feel. It is a slow-burner compared to the standard modern thriller but it has a depth and subtext to it that have a far greater impact when unveiled gradually. The entire sequence in which McGregor follows the final Sat-nav directions of the original ghost writer is masterful, heart-pounding stuff and the final Hitchcockian moments are testament to Polanski's skill, including the marvellous, blackly comic final shot.

The piece is elevated by it's classy cast. The standout performance for me was Olivia Williams as Lang's wife Ruth. She had an edge of both hard sarcasm and layered vulnerability that made the character highly engaging. Brosnan gives a well-judged performance as the pastiche of the 'cool politician' Lang and Tom Wilkinson is, as ever, on form as a former Cambridge chum of Lang's. McGregor's accent is perhaps a trifle suspect (though not quite on a par with Kim Cattrall's) but his overall performance is bang on.

Four Stars.