The Ides of March (2011)

Title: The Ides of March

Director: George Clooney

Starring: Paul Giamatti, George Clooney and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Rated: R

Released: 2011

Personal Rating: 4/5

Oscars: Nominated

Basic Plot: An idealistic staffer for a new presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail.

Not All Politics
For those that are worried about being bored by a political movie: have no fear! I hate politics. But this is more of a character study and has the theme of having one's eyes opened. Most of the 'action' deals with what goes on behind the scenes. As I'm not familiar with politics, I don't know how factual the information in this movie is.

Relationships in Politics
Throughout the movie you see people ignoring friendship in order to win. This is treated as an everyday event (except by the main character). It's scary to see what winning actual means and how no one is safe from playing the same games. It proves my point of politics being less about honesty than about winning.

Title of the Movie
The title refers to The Tragedy of Julius Caesar (by William Shakespeare) cannot be ignored. Both are political and both are about the death of something (one literally and one metaphorically).

Final Thoughts
I highly recommend this movie to anyone that wants to see a well done tragedy. It's very moving and will at least leave you teary eyed. Everything fits in this universe. Again, don't be scared away by the political aspect. It's much more of a behind the scenes movie.