Hidden Agenda

I think that with the possible expection of "Kes" (1969), I was always put off Ken Loach's films because of his so overtly self-indulging political agenda. This one also allows him to have a go at the British establishment too, as it bathes in the fertile waters of Irish political discord and by the end of it I wasn't quite sure if anyone's agenda was very well hidden. It all centres around the killing of an American lawyer. An high-level investigation is ordered and so Scotsman "Kerrigan" (Brian Cox) is sent from London to look into the circumstances of the murder - to the obvious chagrin of the RUC's "Brodie" (Jim Norton). Pretty swiftly, he starts to smell a rat and together with the dead man's girlfriend "Ingrid" (an underused Frances McDormand) begins what soon becomes quite a perilous search for the truth - and a mysterious audio tape that might reveal why he had to die and just who ordered it? Was it just another routine terrorist slaughter or might there be much more to it? To be honest, I found the investigative elements of this clearly contrived to support a particular perspective, and so what jeopardy there was rather dissipated, but what is much better portrayed here - thanks to a solid ensemble cast - is a depiction of the fractured nature of life in this Province. The visceral and deeply rooted apprehensions and hatred emanating from both "traditions" is toxically presented and augmented by an urban landscape scarred by the very randomness of the now well established and fearful "attack or be attacked" culture that prevailed. The often unremarkable Cox is certainly at his more memorable here as his character treads on eggshells but there is nothing of the subtlety of a, say, John Le Carré to the unfolding political scenario and even as it developed I felt the disappointingly undercooked "bigger picture" conclusion was always going to be left stranded in a cul-de-sac. It has a go at some of the speculatively low-hanging fruit of Northern Ireland's troubles, but for me it failed to grasp or expose much of the real "terror" and it's supporting machinations that existed on this island throughout the 1970s and really didn't impress.