"The Ghost Writer" is about a successful British ghostwriter (Ewan McGregor) attempting to to complete the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Adam Lang. Cutting to the chase, the ghostwriter discovers that Lang's wife Ruth was recruited as a CIA agent by a Professor Paul Emmett of Harvard University. The longsuffering politician's wife had surreptitiously shaped PM Lang's every political decision to benefit the United States as directed by the CIA.
As in the Robert Harris novel ("The Ghost") the movie was adapted from, the character of Adam Lang is a thinly veiled portrait of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Even BBC notes that the character "was inspired by Tony Blair", and that "the ghost of Tony Blair ... haunts the fictional Mr Lang, with references to Iraq, the 'war on terror', and a much too cozy relationship with the United States". Actors playing Foreign Secretary Richard Rycart and the US Secretary of State bear startling resemblance to their real-life counterparts, Robin Cook and Condoleezza Rice, respectively.
Okay, that had to be imagination given free rein by Hollywood, and conspiracy inspired Roman Polanski, the producer-director. Then I came across this:
Aw, c'mon, give it a rest! Remember the last words Coca-Cola president Donald Keough said about the New Coke saga? "We're not that dumb, and we're not that smart."
If you are not scared about growing old by now, you should be.
Posts
Hey, someone called her "mother of the nation" and they've even got a gun carriage lined up for the funeral. Sounds like a state funeral. And state funerals are for...folk who wielded lots of power, behind the throne??
ReplyDeleteWas the late President Ong given a similar send off?
Goh Chok Tong said in his eulogy, she played a key role in registering the PAP with the Registrar of Societies, drafted the paragraphs of the Water Agreement which required Malaysia to guarantee water supply and acted as intermediary for the Plen and the British Governor. That sounds pretty Lady Dragonish, don't you think? Of course LKY did say she never reads his confidential faxes. Which means either Goh just called someone a liar, or she was copied on every communication. And there's LKY's own admission that it was also she who had been proof-reading, even correcting, his speeches since 1950.
ReplyDeleteAnyone who listens to the local broadcasts and watches the televised programmes surely must believed that many, many many singaporeans are very familiar and intimate with the late Mdm Kwa Geok Choo. Even foreigner sounding folks were aplenty, it's so amazing.
ReplyDeleteMadam Kwa was truly a wonder, she must have had many friends all over singapore and internationally. How unbelievable for a very private character, but more unbelievable are those tat appear in the on air programmes.