The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019 and was released in the United States on 30 August 2019, by IFC Films, and in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2019, by Entertainment One.
Plot
In early 2003, GCHQ analyst Katharine Gun obtains a memo detailing a joint United States and British operation to spy on diplomats from several non–permanent United Nations Security Council member states (Cameroon, Chile, Bulgaria and Guinea), to "dig dirt" on them. This was to influence the Security Council into passing a resolution supporting an invasion of Iraq.
Angered that the UK is being led into a war on false pretences, Katharine leaks the memo to a friend involved in the anti-war movement, who passes it to anti-war activist Yvonne Ridley. She gets it to The Observer journalist Martin Bright.
The Observer foreign editor Peter Beaumont allows Martin to investigate the story. To verify the memo's authenticity, Martin enlists the help of the Observer's Washington correspondent Ed Vulliamy to contact the memo's author Frank Koza, Chief of Staff at the "regional targets" section of the NSA. Despite the Observer's pro-war stance, Peter convinces the chief editor Roger Alton that the leaked memo is worth publishing.
The leaked memo's publication in March 2003 generates public and media interest. The Drudge Report attempts to discredit the document as a fake, as staffer Nicole Mowbray had inadvertently changed the text from American to British English with a spellchecker. However, Martin is able to produce the original memo, confirming its authenticity.
Katharine's actions prompt GCHQ to launch an internal investigation. Seeking to prevent an invasion of Iraq and to protect her colleagues from suspicion, Katharine confesses to leaking the memo. She is arrested and detained, before being released on remand.
To exert pressure, the British authorities attempt to deport her husband Yasar Gun, a Turkish Kurd. However, Katharine is able to halt the deportation by presenting their marriage certificate, proving the relationship's authenticity.
The defence strategy is that Katharine was acting out of loyalty to her country by seeking to prevent the UK from being led into an unlawful war. With the help of Martin, Ed, and former Foreign Office deputy legal adviser Elizabeth Wilmshurst, Ben discovers that the Attorney GeneralPeter Goldsmith changed his position on the legality of the war after meeting several lawyers from the Bush Administration. Despite the odds against them, Katharine refuses to plead guilty in exchange for a reduced charge.
At the trial, the Crown prosecutor drops all charges against Katharine. Ben suggests to the court that this is because prosecuting her would have shown that the Blair government led the UK into war on false pretences.
The film then mentions the human toll of the Iraq War and that Lord Goldsmith's advice on the illegality of the Iraq War was made public in 2010. It ends with footage of Katharine addressing the media following the dismissal of her case, and Ben shunning Ken for putting Katharine through the ordeal "to make an example of her".
Sara and Gregory Bernstein had written a script already in 2008. Eventually it found itself on The Black List, a list of "most liked" screenplays that have not yet been produced, where director Debs Paterson saw it.[6] Still, nothing came of it until January 2016, when a filming start in May was announced, with Harrison Ford, Anthony Hopkins, Paul Bettany, Natalie Dormer and Martin Freeman cast.[7]Tahar Rahim and Gillian Anderson were cast during the 2016 Berlin International Film Festival.[8][9] However by June 2017, filming had yet to begin, and cast member Anderson stated she had not heard anything about the project since being cast.[10]
The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019.[19] Shortly after, IFC Films acquired US distribution rights to the film.[20] It was released in the United States on 30 August 2019.[21] It was previously scheduled to be released on 23 August 2019.[22] and in the United Kingdom on 18 October 2019.[23]
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 82% based on 166 reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "Official Secrets has a familiar structure and an obvious if worthy message, but rises on the strength of Keira Knightley's powerful performance."[24] On Metacritic, the film holds 63 out of a 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[25]
In an article about the film and Katharine Gun, Sam Husseini wrote that "having followed this story from the start, I find this film to be, by Hollywood standards, a remarkably accurate account of what has happened to date—'to date' because the wider story still isn't really over".[26]
