Bradbury: Ides of March

This is the first still picture from the Ides of March that I would like to discuss. The movie surrounds a campaign to win the state of Ohio's delegate votes in the presidential election. The movie, from what I saw, seemed fairly accurate to how a real election would happen. This scene depicts a speech by Morris (played by George Clooney) announcing that the man directly to his right supports his run for presidency. This scene in the film shows just how ruthless politics can be. That man has much pull amongst the delegates and was planning on supporting another delegate. All of a sudden, another candidate promised him more power (a cabinet seat) and he switches his support. Is there any idealism left in politics? Does anybody run for the sake of the people. When the movie starts out, the audience is lead to believe that both George Clooney and Ryan Gosling's characters are idealistic. As Clooney's true form unveils itself, Gosling's grasp on ideology is shattered, and he results to blackmail and back-room dealing to stay in control. He ends up betraying his good friend and the audience does not even know if it was worth it because it is never discovered who wins. I do not think winning is the point however. The moral of the story (if I may be so cliché) is that everyone in politics is corrupted. You can see that Clooney has brought his wife and young daughter on the stage with him. This as merely a device used to make him appear like a family man and acquire more votes.

This picture I find interesting because the face is split between Clooney and Gosling's characters. They are juxtaposed in the sense that one is an idealistic youngster and the other is merely a face that masks the true politician behind it. The two are dopplegangers of one another. As the movie progresses the audience learns that the two men are not much different: they both want to win and they both will do whatever it takes. This is what Clooney the director is trying to say in this film.