Friday, March 29, 2024

Featured: The Official Report – Exploring why ‘Official Secrets’ works and what ‘The Report’ lacks

This year saw the release of two films which explored government corruption, cover-ups and the brave individuals willing to fight for democracy. Both films have their merits and both have their flaws, but there’s no denying their importance considering the current political climate. These films were Official Secrets directed by Gavin Hood and The Report from director Scott Z. Burns, and while both films shared many similarities and had very strong performances from their central leads, (Adam Driver in “The Report” and Keira Knightley in “Official Secrets”), from a screenwriting perspective one film worked better in terms of narrative structure and character development.

While The Report has a far more catastrophic scandal at its core, the overall film seemed smaller in terms of its cinematic visuals and its storytelling. Official Secrets may be formulaic and cliched in terms of its narrative beats and structure, but because it sticks so closely to the rules of the three-act structure of screenwriting its climax has more of a dramatic, emotional impact for the viewer compared to the ending of The Report.

If we use the three act structure as our basis we can compare how these films differ and why Official Secrets works in the traditional film structure, and why The Report would have been better suited as a televised mini-series. First off, this isn’t to say that The Report isn’t an important film, or to dismiss any messages/themes that the film addresses, but the aim of this article is simply to explore how the story of The Report is restricted by the traditional narrative structure of film.

To all those who have studied screenwriting, the three act structure is something you are more than likely familiar with, but to all of those who aren’t familiar with the playbook of screenwriting, let’s break it down. The three act structure is a narrative model that divides stories into three parts — Act One, Act Two, and Act Three (the beginning, the middle and the end). Every story needs a beginning, and in act one the screenwriter must set up the world in which the story takes place in, the main characters, the main character’s goal, and the obstacles that they must overcome to achieve their goal.

Using Official Secrets as our template, we can see how the screenwriter adheres to the rules of the three act structure to set up the character of Katharine Gun. In the film’s opening we see her daily routine, we are introduced to her job (working at GCHQ), and we see her interacting with her husband Yasar (Adam Bakri) and their relationship is established. The world around Katharine is also established, the viewer sees quickly that she lives in a small town, her husband is running a restaurant that is struggling, and the country is torn apart by the impending decision to invade Iraq. By the end of the 25 minute mark, the first act will end with an inciting incident. In the case of Official Secrets the incident is Katharine’s decision to leak the memo. By setting up the character of Katharine, and establishing her personality and her moral compass, the viewer accepts the reason behind her decision to leak the memo.

If we contrast the beginning of Official Secrets with The Report, we can see how the character of Daniel Jones lacks any real introduction and as a result the viewer doesn’t fully connect with him.. Daniel mentions the impact that 9/11 had on his life, during an interview which led to him pursuing his line of work, but we know very little about Daniel’s background and his life prior to the report.

What Bruns does well with the opening to The Report is setting up Daniel’s aim and the world in which the narrative takes place in. However, aside from knowing Daniel’s mission, the viewer lacks a real emotional connection with this character. The issue is that as a character, Daniel feels underdeveloped, we know his want but what is his need? It would have been far more compelling to see Daniel’s world outside the office in a similar fashion to how the viewer saw Katharine’s life. A classic rule of screenwriting is show don’t tell but Burns seems to have overlooked this aspect of screenwriting.

We understand that Daniel has become obsessed with discovering the truth, and this has affected his mental well-being. However, this isn’t conveyed to us in the same manner that occurs in Official Secrets where we see the character of Katharine become more withdrawn and paranoid. As film is a visual medium, an image can convey more emotions. Instead of Daniel disclosing his emotional struggles, it would have been far more impactful to see Daniel waking up from a nightmare.

Perhaps the main issue with the narrative of The Report is that the film’s events take place over the course of several years, compared to the events of Official Secrets taking place over a shorter time span. While, Burns makes the viewer aware of the change in time with the use of title cards indicating the year, the narrative jumps across several years at such a rapid pace with multiple characters being introduced so quickly that it becomes a struggle for the viewer to keep up. If the story had been structured as an episodic television series, each episode could have been centred over the events taking place in one particular year or focused on one character, which would have allowed the story to evolve in a natural way.

While, there are clearly issues in terms of narrative structure and character development with The Report there’s no denying how important this film is. In fact, both films help to kickstart some much needed discussion in terms of political corruption, and the freedom of the press. It is a shame that The Report failed to deliver the same emotional climax that Official Secrets did especially when you compare the devastating events/scenes that occur in The Report. However, one can hope that by examining the flaws of The Report any aspiring screenwriters out there can understand why the number one rule of screenwriting is “show, don’t tell.”

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