Opinions on how much influence your government should exert are perhaps the greatest source of hypocrisy known to modern man. Fact is, old or young, man or woman, left or right, we all want the government to protect our self-interests and exactly our self-interests alone and then go away. This is true even among the folks who pretend they don’t want any government at all. Hence, every once in a while, we get a film like Closed Circuit, in which we see government employees exerting … a little too much power, and colluding a little too much as well. Who doesn’t love a good conspiracy?
Closed Circuit opens with a bang. Ok, more like a bomb — a terrorist explosion causing over 100 deaths in downtown London. The focus here immediately turns to the legal defense months after the fact. Revisit the horror? Explore the tragedy? Screw that; we’re all about the jurisprudence here. Look, you can go interview victims and crime details in another film. This one is about lawyers. The regular defense attorney, Martin Rose (Eric Bana), is taking over for a guy who “committed suicide.” Yeah, it’s one of those. He’s paired with a special defense attorney, Claudia Simmons-Howe (Rebecca Hall). And when I say, “paired,” I mean the two aren’t supposed to have anything to do with one another. No sharing, no contact, co-speculation, nothing. Despite both working on behalf 
of their suspected terrorist client, they are, ideally, to be as relatively foreign as a yeti and peanut butter. So, is it a problem that they’ve had a sexual relationship? I can’t think why not.
And, of course, Closed Circuit implies that they’ve been chosen specifically because of their compromised histories so that they may be more easily manipulated. I mean, if you can manipulate justice, sure, why the heck not? Conspiracy is the name of the game. Closed Circuit is paranoia for the sake of paranoia. Spying happens at all time. Just accept it. Like The Conversation, this film constantly challenges you to guess who’s watching. And who exactly is in on it? MI5? Jim Broadbent? Ciarán Hinds? The defendant himself? The Queen? Gandalf the White? It’s not a bad thrill ride or guessing game. There isn’t half the intrigue as, say, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, but in a way that’s superior; it’s harder to leave the theater wondering what happened.
This kind of film was more common in the 1970s when, ironically, the government didn’t have nearly the toys it has now to control public behavior. I make only one small speculation as to the reason – as our lives have increased access to information and propaganda, each succeeding generation has grown more cynical than the last, making movies like this unnecessary. That said, I’m glad we make them anyway.
Terror’s the talk of Old Bailey
With two lawyers on the case daily
Is this case a fix
With MI5 in the mix?
They can even get you in jail-y
Rated R, 96 Minutes
D: John Crowley
W: Steven Knight
Genre: Conspiracy!
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Paranoia junkies
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: A strange mix of those who are either too innocent or too cynical
