“The Ghost Writer” is an eloquent praise of the sublime. The power of evocation, Ploanski uses it to great acclaim. He alludes to the knots in the thread of the plot; hanging on to the knots, viewers are presented a local chasm in the plot. But what we don’t realize is, we may just as well have been fed the plot as different routes through which to reach the pinnacle of the mountain. Only the director holds the keys to the overhanging car, through which one can visualize for once the entire plot as it is created.
Ghost writer McEwan is assigned the task of completing the memoirs of former British Prime Minister Pierce Brosnan. None of the characters are intriguing; they are pure, simple and almost possible. The writer finds himself mugged of his manuscript to begin with, later discovers that there is more to the memoirs than what he was made to believe at the beginning. The muddled history of wars and the prime minister’s involvement in it, the precarious upholstery on which the ghost writer settles himself is a treat to watch. He is accosted by the prime minister’s wife; there is an old man who is perpetually cleaning the porch as the wind sweeps dry twigs incessantly; the secretary is nice; the security guards are sturdy and watchful.
The movie is pure conceit of the art of allegory. Puerile minds might find it utterly lackadaisical, but if you have seen Ploanski before, then you will acknowledge the rare ascendance of art. The movie is powerful in many ways as ‘Chinatown’ was. Do watch the German movie ‘Revanche’ to get a bite at the German sublimity.
The manuscript itself is laid aside for the greater part of the movie. More emphasis is cast on the unfortunate ghost writer who is stuck in an island with pursuers snooping on him. His predecessor’s secrets or should I say his findings that this ghost uncovers; what should he make out of them? Should he pursue this path that his predecessor took? What if the snake charmer is merely waiting for him to slip out of the basket and dance to the charming tunes? Who is the snake charmer?
Few movies evoke the mind and titillate your senses as much as this one does. It is as if you are relapsing in trance and letting the wine of sublime energy wash over you until you realize that your senses are throttled and the ghost is being interrogated by cops, for he is the chief witness. Something very dramatic happens and you are bound to think, Ah! Now what? This is it. It’s over?
But it is not over yet. The closing scene of the movie is the most remarkable.
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