Rating: M
Running Time: 92 minutes
Release date: 5 August 2010
http://www.thespecialrelationshipmovie.com
The Special Relationship directed by Richard Loncraine from a screenplay by Peter Morgan. This is the third film based on Morgan’s scripts examining the political career of UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair’s reign between 1997-2007. The Deal (2003) and the academy award winning The Queen(2006) were both directed by Stephen Frears. This particular film in the unofficial trilogy deals with the unique relationship between Bill Clinton (Dennis Quaid) who presided over USA from 1993-2001 and Blair (Michael Sheen, The Queen, The Deal). It chronicles the period 1994-2001 in which the then UK opposition labour leader, with the some coaching by the Clinton administration, saw Blair elected as PM after 17 years of Tory power. Seeing an opportunity for world political domination in centre left political ideology, Clinton takes Blair under his wing to which he becomes a willing apprentice. They soon become accomplices on the International stage however when Clinton takes a credibility hit with the Lewinsky scandal, Blair no longer content to be an apparatchik, takes an aggressive stance on Kosovo and the USA’s middling support in the fight against genocide.
Michael Sheen like his previous efforts in The Deal and The Queen puts in a credible and believable display as Blair. He is supported by his on screen wife, Helen McCrory as Cherie who also appeared by his side in The Queen. Her character in this film is more sympathetic and homely compared with her portrayal in The Queen which maybe due to the different directorial styles between the two, though I found this inconsistency irritating at times. Dennis Quaid was surprisingly good, both looking and sounding the part with a near perfect Clintonesque accent and mannerisms. Possibly his past presidential role in American Dreamz has helped prime him for this. The First Lady of the United States, Hillary Rodham Clinton played by Hope Davis (Synecdoche New York) captured the physical likeness of her but given how prolific she is in the public arena and political scene it didn’t seem to capture her essence. She has been more than a supporting character in Bill Clinton’s career and also a political heavyweight in her own right that more meat needed to be given to her role. Though the film may have been focussing solely on the relationship between Blair and Clinton to have totally ignored Hiliary’s role particularly in the wake of the Lewinsky affair seems to be a miscalculation particularly as the film is only 92 minutes in length.
This is a made for TV film and it does have that feel about it with the visual styling and cinematography but when all is said and done it is interesting insider view into political machinations of the time and is worth seeing to get a closer understanding of some the pivotal events of this period.
3/5 stars
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