Closed Circuit

Well-acted, well-written and well-directed; audiences are served a British conspiracy thrilled with enough twists, subterfuge, unseemliness to keep one’s attention riveted to the screen.

London has been traumatized by Islamic terrorists, in today’s vernacular: suicide bombers: July 7, 2005; tube and bus bombings left fifty-two dead and hundred maimed, forever scarred; this disaster birthed the mightiest of surveillance contrivances in the contemporary world; “big brother” is ubiquitous, recording indiscriminately, all passing before its sleepless lens.

“Closed Circuit” commences with a myriad of snippets; focusing on innocents going about their lives, unsuspecting that annihilation is imminent; a bomb is detonated; over a hundred are murdered; a suspect is apprehended and the scintillating scenario, imbued with galvanizing intrigue plays forth.

The suspected culprit has two defense attorneys, “Martin Rose” (subtle and terrific portrayal by Eric Bana) and special advocated “Claudia Simmons-Howe” (Rebecca Hall’s performance anchors the film from the beginning, nothing is what it seems; it is fascinating watching the intricacies of the British judicial system; sealed secrecy, privy to only a chose few.

Jim Broadbent and Ciaran Hinds lend efficacious legitimacy as the attorney general, and Rose’s close friend and confidant; Riz Ahmed (“The Reluctant Fundamentalist” is hypnotic as the creepy, menacing Secret Service Agent, in charge of highly classified documents; he cloaks his inscrutability with a veneer of transparent, artificial sincerity.

Director John Crowley and writer Steven Knight give insight into a reality that has become all too familiar; the death of privacy is the toll society must pay for safety; oftentimes, sadly, it has proven not to be sufficient.

THREE & ½ STARS!!!

For Now…….Peneflix