Thought provoking and engrossing

Rating: 9/10 (3 January 2007)

I was looking forward to seeing this film I remember a lot of the historical incidents that formed the background to the plot. It was even better than I expected. The structure was complex but was appropriate for the complexity of the story and the portraits of the characters. The leitmotif of the leak about the Bay of Pigs and the way it looped back to the main characters was riveting in retrospect Even though there were many recognizable actors, most of them blended into the characters they were playing The supporting actors were uniformly excellent and the way the story played out on their fates was poignant. The interplay between the CIA history and the effect on the main characters family was handled very well. I thought Angelina Jolie was somewhat unconvincing as a predatory WASP princess in the early scenes but her disillusionment and heartbreak in the later stages was very well played. Naturally the back story about Skull and Bones raises a lot of interesting questions about our former CIA Director/President and his fellow member the current president For the right audience I can't think of many movies that will inspire so much discussion after the credits roll.