The Ides of March (2011)

This is not about 21st century twists that have been added to the mix--there are no discussions about smear campaigns with commercial blitzes, how getting big money is the only way to make it in the modern political landscape. Nope, this is straight ahead politics that could have taken place 50 years ago. The central character is Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), who as a press secretary is required to more or less lie as a living. He does it very well. He works for Pennsylvania Gov. Mike Morris (George Clooney), an idealistic liberal. Philip Seymour Hoffman is Paul Zara, his seasoned campaign manager; Michael Mantell is Sen. Pullman, Morris' opponent, and Paul Giamatti is Tom Duffy, Pullman's campaign manager. Rahel Evan Woods plays a college student, the daughter of a powerful man, who is interning on the campaign, and she provides the opportunity for sexual scandal and she is the naive one who thinks that good will triumph over all. It is a very strong cast and the script does them justice. No matter how you feel about the message and the ending, you will be impressed by how well it came across. Clooney as a director brings a perfectionism to the final product that is very impressive. He is not just another pretty face. All of the men, except young Stephen Meyers, are realists. They're cynical, compromised and often underhanded, but all in the cause of something they believe in. The Gosling character believes mostly in himself. Like many staff members of powerful men, he confuses reflected glory for the thing itself and dreams not so much of Gov. Morris winning as of being able to rise in the staff ranks and take over Zara's job. The movie is kind of like the process of turning out a prostitute--once you get them to take money for sex, you have them well on the path to hooking, and this is about Gosling going through the political equivalent of that psychological process. What would you do?