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Taking a deeper look at current and past films and how they relate to the world today.

Jonathan Kim is an independent film critic who writes and produces film reviews for Uprising and other outlets. He is a former co-producer at Brave New Films.

Read his reviews online at ReThinkReviews.net. Watch his videos at www.youtube.com/user/jsjkim, and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ReThinkReviews. ReThink Reviews’ theme song is by Restavrant.

The Ides of March

A handsome, charismatic presidential candidate, with lofty and inspiring words sure to propel the democratic party over a struggling GOP and into the White House — if only they can get past a difficult primary opponent. A crack team of experienced political operatives, along with the best and brightest young talent, crunch electoral votes and manage media, trying to minimize even the appearance of scandals or leaks. Political dealmaking and betrayal, with careers and the most powerful office on earth at stake. Yes, this may sound like your recent memories, but it’s also what happens in ‘The Ides of March’, a film directed, co-produced and co-written by devoted lefty George Clooney, who also plays the distinctly Obama-esque candidate Governor Mike Morris, with the ubiquitous Ryan Gosling playing Stephen Myers, a campaign prodigy on Morris’ staff who learns that politics can be a contact sport, in every sense of the word.

Stephen is joined on Morris’ team by Paul Zara, an experienced but jaded campaign director (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) who knows the rumors to spread and the deals to make to give his boss the advantage. Paul’s counterpart on the opposing side is Tom Duffy, another campaign veteran (played by Paul Giamatti) who isn’t above trying to steal talent like Stephen as if he was a star player who might want a better shot at a championship. But Stephen isn’t with Morris to further his career, but because Stephen is a true believer who feels that Morris really can turn the country around, and perhaps usher in a new era.

But there’s also danger afoot, which comes in the form of the film’s two women. Evan Rachel Wood plays Molly Stearns, an attractive, intern on the Morris campaign with a powerful father, a crush on Stephen, and a secret that could destroy Morris’ candidacy. There’s also Ida Horowicz, a reporter for the New York Times played by Marisa Tomei, who’s desire for inside dirt might make her the perfect pawn in a campaign power struggle.

Despite starring one of Hollywood’s hottest young stars, ‘The Ides of March’ is one of those rare, refreshingly adult dramas that are usually only found close to Oscar season, though the film also has plenty of smart humor, often coming at the expense of our political system and the democrats’ long history of ineptness. The acting is terrific across the board, especially the four male leads, led by Gosling, who is able to convey the confidence of a young, inspired phenom whose promising career is put in jeopardy as events begin to spin out of his control and the long knives come out.

Many people will probably see ‘The Ides of March’ as further reason to be cynical of our political system, where ideals die, promises are broken, people are double-crossed and discarded, and odious deals get made in exchange for votes and power. And all those things are true. But for me, ‘The Ides of March’ is about that most human of traits, fallibility, in a world where we expect our politicians to have none of our own flaws and campaigns staffers are publicly abandoned for being involved with even the appearance of a mistake. While the stakes usually aren’t life or death, they might as well be for Stephen, who realizes that one error in judgment might lead to his promising career in campaign politics being snuffed out just as it’s gaining momentum.

But asking our candidates and their campaigns to be infallible is simply an invitation for dishonesty or, worse, politicians like Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann who are caricatures of actual people, fooling both themselves and voters into thinking they exemplify dogmatic ideological purity and never, ever make mistakes. One could say ‘The Ides of March’ is about a campaign staffer’s loss of innocence, both in his candidate and the political process. But in the world of politics, one could argue that there’s no room for innocence, let alone perfection, in the first place.

‘The Ides of March’ is rated R and is in theaters now.