Throughout history political spin doctors and media pundits alike have attempted to elevate the relationship between various countries, and their leaders, to a status above and beyond the norm of diplomatic relations. The United States, as the world’s most powerful nation, has held positions on either side as both a perpetrator and a victim of such international posturing, with fellow Western nations including the United Kingdom and Australia also guilty of seeking to promote their alliances as something special. It is within this framework that The Special Relationship sits, the second film in as many days with British former Prime Minister Tony Blair as its subject (after Roman Polanski’s veiled depiction in The Ghost Writer). Examining the fledgling friendship formed between Blair (Michael Sheen, the voice of the white rabbit in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland remake) and U.S. President Bill Clinton (Dennis Quaid, Vantage Point) upon Blair’s ascendancy to power, it unravels the ties forged by the power-brokers whilst navigating the waters of progressive centre-left politics from either side of North Atlantic Ocean.
The Special Relationship opens with a quote from Oscar Wilde – “True friends stab you in the front” – and it is a statement that rings true as the events of the film unfold. Entering the global arena as a bright-eyed understudy intent on learning all he can from those around him, Blair’s political savvy grows under the collegial tutelage of Clinton, as a unique understanding blooms between two men on the same side of democracy, with witty wives (Becoming Jane‘s Helen McCrory in her second stint as Cherie Blair, and Genova‘s Hope Davis as Hillary Clinton) to match. Yet history shows time and time again that the student often overtakes the master, with Blair’s need to achieve proving greater than the bond of political compatriots fighting for the shared goals, and his desire for approval stronger than a relationship weakened by public immorality. Starting as collaborators in attempts to end violence in Northern Ireland, progressing to the status of supportive colleagues when the Lewinksy scandal broke, and finishing as polite adversaries over the situation in Kosovo, the Blair-Clinton relationship as portrayed on screen develops as a testament to Wilde’s wise words, and ends in the fashion he predicted.
Although a troika of trios surrounds The Special Relationship, the third time is not necessarily the charm for all involved. In his third role as Blair (following The Deal and The Queen), his third consecutive appearance in a film scripted by Peter Morgan, and his third performance in three years playing a factual rather than fictional character (after Frost/Nixon and The Damned United), Sheen is effective in his well-practiced imitation of the former P.M., but fails to match the intensity of previous iterations. Indeed, a lack of immediacy permeates the feature in general, with the unemotional plot rather lightweight given the subject, average performances from Quaid and Davis playing as caricatures rather than characters, and a distinct televisual style from director Richard Loncraine (Wimbledon) reminiscent of later episodes of The West Wing (which is to be expected, given the film first aired on U.S. cable network HBO). At its best when focused on the compelling dynamic between the liberal leaders, yet not matching the standard of insight and interest set by the preceding Blair films, The Special Relationship is a sympathetic, broad-brush look at the politics of friendships and the friendships of politics, in a feature perfectly watchable but ultimately not that special at all.
The Special Relationship opens in Australian cinemas on August 5th, 2010.
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