The Special Relationship

Peter Morgan isn't exactly obsessed with Tony Blair but he does find something extremely interesting about the former Prime Minister that intrigues him enough to write three films with Blair is the subject and hasn't ruled out writing a fourth. Whereas The Deal dealt with the infamous meal at Granita at which Gordon Brown agreed to let Tony Blair run for the leadership of the Labour Party on the understanding that he would 'step aside' after several years and let Brown take over and The Queen concentrated on the period immediately following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and Blair's struggle with the Royal Family to present a united front to the public, this spans 16 years in Blair's career from travelling to Washington DC in 1992 as leader of the Labour Party to take advice from Bill Clinton's advisors about how to reinvent his party and make it an electable to Clinton leaving office and Blair beginning another 'special relationship' with George W Bush.

Key to Peter Morgan's films has been this close collaboration with the chameleon-like Michael Sheen who seems to perfectly embody Tony Blair was not so much as an impersonation as nailing down the voice and mannerisms to such an extent that you quickly forget you are watching an actor and feel as if you are watching some sort of quasi documentary. Of course, these films aren't exactly a one-man show as The Deal worked precisely because David Morrisey, as Gordon Brown, worked so well with Sheen's Blair and, in The Queen, Helen Mirren was outstanding playing HRH, ably supported by James Cromwell as Prince Philip.

This new film, which screens on BBC2 on Saturday, September 18 and is released on DVD on September 20, stars Dennis Quaid as Bill Clinton (the first time he has ever been portrayed on screen for any other reason than parody) who strikes up a close friendship with the soon-to-be and then new Prime Minister of the UK which is reciprocated by Tony Blair. This friendship comes under increasing strain during the three-year period 1997-2000 with the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Clinton's reluctance to put boots on the ground to stop the genocide in Serbia and Kosovo when Blair is desperate for 'humanitarian intervention'. The one aspect of policy where they do share a common goal is on the Northern Ireland peace process and Clinton makes it abundantly clear that he can be contacted day or night if Blair needs any assistance with negotiations, statements or pressure from the United States.

Just as The Special Relationship could refer to Britain and America or Blair and Clinton, it could equally be applied to Tony and Cherie Blair or Bill and Hillary Clinton and the importance of a marriage in which both parties are committed to the same political stance. There is an interesting exchange between Tony and Cherie in which she infers that you would like to have the same influence on Blair's politics as Hillary Clinton does on her husband's, with Bill Clinton consulting her on every important decision. As Hillary Clinton, Hope Davis is utterly convincing and there were several occasions when the camera turned to her and I thought it really was Hillary Clinton. Helen McCrory (reprising her role from The Queen) is equally convincing and Cherie Blair although she doesn't have as big a public profile as the former First Lady and current Secretary of State so it is perhaps a little easier to portray Cherie as there is greater margin for error.


One of the more interesting touches is the seemingly omnipresent nature of Jonathan Powell and Alastair Campbell who seem to be around Blair wherever he goes and are always on hand for a word of advice or for Blair to ask for a statement to be written, a speech to be drafted or simply to pass on information. Unsurprisingly, Campbell has criticised The Special Relationship and I would have been amazed if he had come out and said that it was entirely accurate, that Mark Bazeley's portrayal of him was utterly convincing and that he was amazed that Peter Morgan was able to get so close to the truth without having been there.

The direction, by Richard Loncraine, switches between vérité documentary-style fly-on-the-wall realism and a slightly steadier, 'soap opera' type of filming which perfectly suits the material as there are long periods, especially to do with the Clintons relationship during the Lewinsky scandal which are exactly like a soap opera. This is a smartly scripted and extremely believable film that tries to get to the heart of why the US and UK have this 'special relationship' when, as Clinton said, there are numerous countries, especially Israel, that have a greater say on American policy than Britain.

The Disc

Extra Features
Not a great deal although there are eight minutes of interviews (although these can be a little puzzling as there aren't any captions to identify the speakers), a five minute behind-the-scenes featurette which really isn't overly interesting, comprised mostly of B-roll footage and some footage of the massive setups they had in the stately homes. There is also a trailer.


The Picture
I imagine that this was filmed to be broadcast in high definition and the fact that this is released on DVD and Blu-ray indicates that there is a HD source. Although the Blu-ray wasn't provided for review, the DVD does have an extremely good picture with excellent colours, contrast and skin tones. The amount of research that went into the make-up and prosthetics, hairstyles and wardrobe must have been extensive as it really is utterly convincing and, as Hope Davis says in one of the interviews, when her mother was on set one day and saw Dennis Quaid walking towards her, she nearly jumped out of her skin as she thought it really was Bill Clinton!

Richard Loncraine does a great job of interspersing archive news footage with the 'fictional' stuff that he shot say you have real archival footage of Gerry Adams entering and leaving Downing Street when Blair and Clinton are putting a lot of pressure on Sinn Fein and plenty of footage of Slobodan Milosevic and the atrocities in Kosovo when Blair is trying to convince Clinton to step up the military offensive against Serbia.

As this was a BBC/HBO co-production, the budget won't have been exactly small which is why they were able to have Dennis Quaid in Marine One (or a similar helicopter adapted to look like the President's personal helicopter).


The Sound
Given the choice of Dolby Digital 5.1 or 2.0 stereo, I opted for the former but found the dialogue to be strangely muddy and, as the rear surrounds (or the front surrounds, for that matter) went really being used, I switched to the stereo option which was much clearer and, with my amp decoding the sound via Pro Logic IIx, the rear surrounds it is coming to use occasionally, particularly when Marine One was landing or taking off.


Final Thoughts
The Special Relationship is an extremely interesting and well written piece that will be of interest to anyone who enjoyed Peter Morgan's previous two films about Tony Blair and, with a TV premiere rather than a theatrical release, is in exactly the right place unlike The Queen which felt like a TV movie shown in cinemas. If Morgan gets his wish and is able to make a fourth and final instalment following Blair from 2000 to 2005 and the build up to the invasion of Iraq, I will be very keen to watch it and see how his interpretation of those events turns out. Apparently Michael Sheen thinks that three films is enough but I could stand to watch him reprise his role as Tony Blair again and see who they cast as George W Bush, Colin Powell, Condoleeza Rice, Jack Straw etc.

Although this disc is hardly replete with extra features, it still has very good AV quality and, I imagine the Blu-ray will be even better, so if you see this on Saturday and would like to watch it several more times, then this is something worth a purchase.