THE GHOST WRITER: masterful suspense from a masterful director

It's been a while since a film gave me chills but I got them all over and more than once while watching THE GHOST WRITER. What caused them wasn't a creepy old house, or a hideously deformed psycho-killer looming out of the dark, or a sudden hand on the shoulder of the protagonist when we thought they were alone, or any of those other hoary old tricks employed to make us jump in our seat.
It was the sense of overwhelming fear which suddenly engulfed me when the unexpected discovery of a piece of information by the main character made both of us realise that his life was in immediate and serious danger. This is genuine suspense. It doesn't rely on a jarring blast of music or jump cut editing; it arises organically out of the unfolding story.

In the hands of veteran (and to some people - legendary) director Roman Polanski, the story which unfolds in THE GHOST WRITER is utterly absorbing and totally gripping. Ewan McGregor stars as a writer (known only as "The Ghost") who finds himself in way over his head when he agrees to take on the ghost writing of the memoirs of recently retired British Prime Minister Adam Lang (Pierce Brosnan). Within days of joining Lang at his borrowed, bunker-like estate on Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts,  the former PM is accused of war crimes in connection with the rendition of 4 suspected Muslim terrorists, and the writer uncovers evidence which suggests that Lang has something in his past that he wants to keep hidden.
It may just be coincidence that a charismatic director living in exile from his adopted homeland and unable to travel freely for fear of arrest and extradition to the USA to face controversial sex crime charges has chosen to make a story about a charismatic politician who finds himself unable to return home for fear of arrest, but it's difficult to resist making comparisons between Lang and Polanski. Has Polanski's empathy with Lang's situation influenced his depiction of the man as a complicated character who can be perceived in many different ways by different people?
It's similarly difficult not to draw analogies with Tony Blair when watching Lang. The film never suggests that Lang is a stand-in for Blair, but both men are charismatic, relatively young former leaders who had an uncomfortably close (for some) relationship with the USA,  who led the United Kingdom into unpopular wars to support the American President, and who remain controversial figures even out of office.  

These convergences, whether unintentional or not, contribute to the credibility of THE GHOST WRITER as a piece of docudrama rather than just another fictional thriller. We think we know enough about the "secret" world of international political intrigue to believe that the events explored in this film are plausible, and the fact that the moments of suspense are not contrived or cliched merely adds to the sense that we're watching events that aren't too far removed from reality.
Pierce Brosnan is probably not the first actor you'd think of when casting for the British Prime Minister but he works. That, I would argue, is because we have Tony Blair as a role model. Brosnan would have been a ridiculous choice for the part if we'd only had John Major or Neil Kinnock to compare him to.
Ewan McGregor's never been one of my favourite actors but he's effective in a part which has the potential, if overplayed, to diminish the story's believability. The Ghost never resorts to superhero actions to drag himself out of dangerous situations. The only unconvincing aspect to The Ghost's character is his London accent which has a tendency to drift north towards Hadrian's Wall on occasion.
(Talking of accents, it may be significant or nothing more than coincidence that only one of the five leading actors speaks in their natural accent, but I'll say no more).
THE GHOST WRITER follows in the footsteps of two of Polanski's greatest movies - "Rosemary's Baby" and "Chinatown" - in peeling back the covers to partially reveal a hidden, parallel present where the lust for power, control and secrecy takes precedence over individual life. 
Similarly stylish, sophisticated and spotted with moments of black humour, this is a superior piece of adult entertainment which will keep you hooked until the final frame.