I hope I wasn’t the only one who didn’t understand the title of this film before the enlightenment of a Google search. According to a number of sources reliable and less than reliable, ‘ides’ is derived from a Latin word which means ‘halfway’; thus the ides of March means roughly the 15th of March (give or take a day or too, depending on the lunar cycle). Now besides being the birthday of such varied musicians as Eduard Strauss, Ry Cooder and Will.i.am, the Ides of March was also the date on which Caesar was assassinated. In Shakespeare’s play, Caesar is warned by a prophet to ‘beware the ides of March’.
Cultural history lesson over. The film is set in Ohio during the Democratic Party’s presidential primaries. Ryan Gosling plays Stephen, a junior campaign manager under his boss Paul (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and nominee Mike Morris (George Clooney). He plays an idealistic young man who sees politics as a way to change people’s lives for the better. However, he soon learns how dirty the fight for political survival is.
The Ides of March is a quiet little corker of a film. Within the limit of its plot, it manages to draw out a Shakespearean tragedy that would give Macbeth déjà vu. The script is tight and the story line is deftly woven. It is good to see a Hollywood film that doesn’t try and fall back on melodrama, especially with the kind of subject matter IOM deals with. That would be an easy trap to fall into, but IOM maintains its dignity and narrative integrity absolutely.
It was sad to see how cold and hard people can become because of their experiences. It is especially saddening to see disillusionment creep in upon idealism. While idealism may ultimately be naive and innocent, it is still sad to see it wither. The scenes I found most potently illustrative of this were the interactions between Marisa Tomei’s character Ida the journalist and Stephen.
You couldn’t really go wrong with the actors they had in this film anyway. Indie heavyweights were aplenty; Marisa Tomei (underused and underrated- give the woman a lead!), Phillip Seymour Hoffman (he must be good with three names), Paul Giamatti (the dude is in everything) and Evan Rachel Wood (dated Marilyn Manson. Enough said.) all gave fantastic performances. Like anyone was surprised by that.
And then there was Ryan. The man behind the Gosla-thon. He gave a solid performance throughout, and was especially brilliant at the cold hard politician bit. I’m so glad he has range besides taking off his shirt a lot. But that range is good too. More of that next film please, Mr Gosling sir.
The Ides Of March is a delicious morsel. There are shots of pure brilliance, which is a nice surprise from fourth time director George Clooney. This is without a doubt a film to watch and think about.
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