No matter your political affiliation, it’s generally understood that the invasion of Iraq in the early-2000s was a complete mess. Many folks know the headline-grabbing stories about President Bush and the weapons of mass destruction. However, you may not know the true story about the behind-the-scenes scheming that went along with it, and how one woman risked it all to reveal the facts. The new film “Official Secrets” hopes to rectify that.
In honor of “Official Secrets” coming to theaters soon, we are happy to share an exclusive clip from the film for our readers. Based on the true story of Katharine Gun, a British intelligence officer that discovers a memo implicating the United States in a scheme with Britain to blackmail the UN, “Official Secrets” follows in the long line of political thrillers that shed light on events that fell under the radar. In this film, Keira Knightley portrays Gun, and shows the lengths the woman went to speak the truth.
In our review for the film, we commended Knightley’s performance saying that she “gives her character interesting shadings and depth in a strong performance.”
The drama stars Knightley, Matt Smith, Adam Bakri, Matthew Goode, John Heffernan, Ralph Fiennes, Indira Varma, and Rhys Ifans. “Official Secrets” comes from director Gavin Hood, who co-wrote the film alongside Sara Bernstein and Gregory Bernstein.
“Official Secrets” arrives in theaters on August 30.
Here’s the synopsis:
She risked everything to stop an unjust war. Her government called her a traitor. Based on world-shaking true events, Official Secrets tells the gripping story of Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley), a British intelligence specialist whose job involves routine handling of classified information. One day in 2003, in the lead up to the Iraq War, Gun receives a memo from the NSA with a shocking directive: the United States is enlisting Britain’s help in collecting compromising information on United Nations Security Council members in order to blackmail them into voting in favor of an invasion of Iraq. Unable to stand by and watch the world be rushed into an illegal war, Gun makes the gut-wrenching decision to defy her government and leak the memo to the press. So begins an explosive chain of events that will ignite an international firestorm, expose a vast political conspiracy, and put Gun and her family directly in harm’s way.