Masterpiece Contemporary Page Eight (2008– ) Online

The person who reviewed this film and gave it two stars because it is anti-American and anti=Israeli misses the point. This is a good film ,well made, with high class production values and great acting. I like good films. The Americans, Israelis, British, French, Chinese, Saudis, the list is very long, do very bad things. I would not trust any of them as far as I could throw their gold-plated bullet-proof Cadillac, but it's still a good film. Dr Strange love is pretty anti American, but it doesn't stop it being a great film (10 stars). I also rather object to having to write so much to get the review published, so I'll just waffle a bit 'till the ten lines are up - do they think people are incapable of writing a useful review in less than ten lines!- that should do it.

This movie has good production values and masquerades as a political thriller when in fact it is pure propaganda. It has some good actors and the camera work and cutting suggests a sense of movement and suspense, but when you find out what it's all about you see there is no story there. Not only is the story absent and the characters unconvincing, it contains a nasty anti-Israel, anti-American subtext. We are asked to believe that a desiccated, boring, old Brit secret service agent (Nighy) has claimed the moral high ground and sacrificed his career and pension to please a pretty girl (Weisz) and expose his PM as a collaborator with the evil Israelis and Americans. Who are the enemies here? Certainly not the terrorists, they hardly receive any notice except a bit of hand-wringing over the possibility of their mistreatment. This flick is aimed at a liberal audience outraged at the conduct of the war on terror of Tony Blair and George W. Bush.

Now, lately, we have seen a turnaround: with Obama as President there appears to be far less concern about secret facilities where terrorists are supposedly tortured, and there seems to be little concern about drone attacks which under W. would have outraged the haughty BBC audience. Of course Israel is always on the agenda, any attempt to defend herself against barbarians brings her under attack from the enlightened snobs at the Beeb. Political thrillers are supposed to be about the fight against the bad guys, not trashing allies.

Strange that some viewers see Page Eight as an anti-American or anti-Israeli movie. I see it as a story about the unscrupulous underworld of secret service operatives and a well crafted thriller. This seems a judgement that is agreeable even to those who hold it to be anti-"all-that-is-good-and-right-with-the-world." I find this type of shallow, tedious observation to be more fittingly done by the PR workers for the North Korean leadership than by quality seeking viewers of Public Television. My only objection to the program is that it has been very difficult for me to find the next airing on PBS. By the way I think it should be kept in mind by all rabid seekers of "all-that-is-good-and-right-with-the-world" that neither the United States nor Israel has been a constant adherent to that quest.