The conspiracy - treason at the highest level

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Movie
German title The conspiracy - treason at the highest level
Original title Page Eight
Country of production United Kingdom
original language English
Publishing year 2011
length 103 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director David Hare
script David Hare
production David Heyman ,
David Barron
music Paul Englishby
camera Martin calm
cut Jinx Godfrey
occupation

The Conspiracy - Treason at the highest level (original title: The Conspiracy ; original title: Page Eight ) is a British television film directed by David Hare , first broadcast in 2011 .

Bill Nighy in the main role plays the veteran employee of the British domestic intelligence service MI5 , Johnny Worricker , whose career and start an internal reorganization of the MI5 are at risk. The situation came to a head after he received a file containing confidential information about American secret prisons from his manager . The original title Page Eight refers to the fact that on page eight of the file there is the sentence that the British Prime Minister has been informed of the existence of such prisons.

The espionage and political thriller was produced by David Heyman and David Barron for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The success of the film led to two sequels, The Conspiracy - Deadly Deals (Original Title: Turks & Caicos ) and The Conspiracy - Merciless Hunt (Original Title: Salting The Battlefield ), both also directed by David Hare and with Bill Nighy in the lead role of the agent Johnny Worricker. All three films together are distributed in Germany as DVDs under the series title The Conspiracy ; English DVD series title is The Worricker Trilogy .

action

Johnny Worricker, MI5 officer, receives a file with confidential documents from his friend and superior Benedict Baron, head of MI5. These seem to confirm for the first time with extensive information the existence of American secret prisons in different parts of the world, where prisoners can be held without a legal basis and statements can be forced under torture. The files also contain explosive information that British Prime Minister Alec Beasley was aware of these prisons, which he has always denied in the past.

After Baron died unexpectedly, the cloak of silence about his documentation should be covered. The British Prime Minister personally ensures that all copies of the incriminating files are withdrawn. Although the Prime Minister threatened him subliminally but clearly, Worricker initially resisted the request to hand over the files immediately.

At the same time, his neighbor Nancy Pierpan contacts him, who tries to research the background of her brother's death. He died as a peace activist when he hoisted a white flag in a house that was about to be destroyed by Israeli troops. Worricker refuses to help her, but still hires a secret service agent privately to help Pierpan with her research. Gradually, the two seem to gain trust in each other.

Worricker finally reaches an agreement with MI5 to hand over the explosive file on condition that television can report on the illegal Israeli crackdown on Pierpan's brother. In a live broadcast on the BBC, the Prime Minister asserts that he did not know about the affair and takes a public position against the behavior of Israel and its ally, the USA. Worricker, who is now on the trail of his opponents from MI5, who sees his life threatened, makes money by selling a valuable picture, covers his tracks, says goodbye to Nancy, throws the files in a wastebasket at the airport and leaves the country with an unknown destination.

background

The film is based on a conception by David Hare, who also wrote the script and directed. In an interview for the BBC's press kit on the two follow-up films in the series, he stated that he was convinced and wanted to show that there are also good people in British domestic intelligence, the honorable work even in dishonorable Wanted to deliver times (“honorable work, but in dishonorable times”). With his film, Hare wanted to pose the question of what a single person is able to do, how much a single person can achieve with good intentions in view of the close ties between government, industry and the military.

criticism

Page Eight was received differently by film reviews:

The American trade magazine The Hollywood Reporter noted the dialog quality of the script and the outstanding cast in favor of the film, but criticized a superficial view of the political problems on the way to the Iraq war . The New York Times criticized the film as just another polemical portrait of Great Britain as "the poodle of the USA".

The British Guardian describes the film as being worth seeing; The reviewer summarized there that the film shows a world in which old certainties have been lost, in which politicians acted without moral guidelines, but in which there is still hope - and the images of Christopher Wood or the saxophone playing Lester Youngs .

The lexicon of international films, on the other hand, evaluates positively in comparison with the James Bond films that Page Eight offers "instead of action razor-sharp, captivating dialogues and instead of indulging in spectacular locations around the world, convincing figure drawings and a concentrated view of an upper- Class England, whose dignified facades hide internal breaks and global entanglements. "

Awards (selection)

Nominations
Awards
  • ASC Award 2011: Martin Ruhe in the category Outstanding Cinematography, Film and TV Series
  • Emmy Award 2012: Paul Englishby in the main musical theme category

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ BBC press kit for the production of the two follow-up films Turks & Caicos and Salting The Battlefield 2015 (no further editorial information), p. 7; accessed February 10, 2016 (PDF).
  2. ^ David Rooney: Page Eight: Toronto Review . hollywoodreporter.com, September 14, 2011; accessed February 11, 2016.
  3. ↑ Alessandra Stanley: Oh, Those Blundering Americans! The New York Times, Nov. 4, 2011; accessed February 11, 2016.
  4. ↑ Sam Wollaston: TV review: Page Eight , The Guardian, August 28, 2011; accessed February 11, 2016.
  5. ↑ The Conspiracy - Treason at the highest level. Entry in the lexicon of international films; accessed February 16, 2016.
  6. ↑ Golden Globe 2012 ; accessed February 16, 2016.
  7. ^ Emmy Awards Page Eight ; accessed February 16, 2016.
  8. ^ Television Awards Winners in 2012 ; accessed February 16, 2016.
  9. ↑ The ASC Awards for Outstanding Acheivement in Cinematography. Retrieved May 15, 2019
  10. ^ Emmy Awards Page Eight ; accessed February 16, 2016.