''Closed Circuit'' is a 2013 British-American

political thriller A political thriller is a thriller that is set against the backdrop of a political power struggle, high stakes and suspense is the core of the story. The genre often forces the audiences to consider and understand the importance of politics. The s ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

directed by John Crowley and written by

Steven Knight Steven Knight (born 1 April 1959) is a British screenwriter, film director and film producer. Knight wrote the screenplays for the films ''Closed Circuit'', '' Dirty Pretty Things'', and ''Eastern Promises'', and also wrote and directed the f ...

, released on August 28, 2013. The film stars

Eric Bana Eric Banadinović, (born 9 August 1968), known professionally as Eric Bana (), is an Australian actor and comedian. He began his career in the sketch comedy series '' Full Frontal'' before gaining notice in the comedy drama '' The Castle'' (19 ...

Rebecca Hall Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of '' The Camomile Lawn'', directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional s ...

Ciarán Hinds Ciarán Hinds (; born 9 February 1953) is an Irish actor. Born in Belfast, Hinds is known for a range of screen and stage roles. He has starred in feature films including '' The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover'' (1989), ''Persuasion'' (19 ...

Jim Broadbent James Broadbent (born 24 May 1949) is an English actor. He won an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for his supporting role as John Bayley in the feature film '' Iris'' (2001), as well as winning a BAFTA TV Award and a Golden Globe for ...

, and

Riz Ahmed Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the shor ...

Plot

A bomb planted in a lorry detonates in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Borough Market Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market hall in Southwark, London, England. It is one of the largest and oldest food markets in London, with a market on the site dating back to at least the 12th century. The present buildings were bu ...

killing 120 people. The London police receive an anonymous tip and arrest Farroukh Erdogan, a Turkish immigrant, as the terror cell leader and mastermind of the attack. Two other members of the cell die in the bombing and the fourth is killed by police in a shoot-out during the raid to apprehend him. When Erdogan's defence barrister commits suicide, Martin Rose is appointed by the

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

to replace him, joining special advocate Claudia Simmons-Howe. Due to national security concerns, Erdogan's case follows closed material procedures; Claudia represents Erdogan during closed sessions with a judge ruling what evidence is permissible for Martin to use in the open public trial.

MI5 The Security Service, also known as MI5 ( Military Intelligence, Section 5), is the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency and is part of its intelligence machinery alongside the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), Go ...

Agent Nazrul Sharma is assigned to provide Claudia with the closed material and monitor her activities. Martin discovers that despite his extensive criminal record, Erdogan was somehow quickly approved for immigration from his previous residence in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

to England and within six months was living well beyond his income. He finds proof that Farroukh Erdogan is really Mussi Kartal, a member of a terror cell responsible for bombing a

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...

base in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

a few years prior. Kartal cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison, agreeing to work as an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informant ...

for MI5 by infiltrating the London terror cell and providing MI5 with information to make arrests. Martin suspects that after the Borough Market bombing, MI5 feared their botched operation would be publicly blamed as directly financing terrorism and sought to have Kartal take the fall and suppress any evidence of MI5 involvement. Martin and Claudia discussed the matters discreetly during the

England national football team The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affiliat ...

match at the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. In the first closed court session, MI5 Agent Melissa Fairbright reveals that Kartal's son Amir had hacked into his father's laptop and had provided valuable information to MI5. The judge orders Amir's testimony in court, deeming it relevant to the case. Amir, who is being monitored by MI5 agents at a

safe house A safe house (also spelled safehouse) is, in a generic sense, a secret place for sanctuary or suitable to hide people from the law, hostile actors or actions, or from retribution, threats or perceived danger. It may also be a metaphor. Histori ...

with his mother, manages to escape to his aunt's home. He meets with Martin and Claudia, giving them a flash drive detailing his father's involvement with the MI5 terror cell operation. Martin and Claudia realize MI5 will kill Amir to protect themselves and go on the run with him overnight, planning to have him testify in court the next day. Amir testifies in closed session, but Kartal is later murdered in prison and made to look like a suicide by hanging. With Kartal dead, the case collapses and all evidence of the MI5 operation is suppressed from public disclosure. Amir and his mother, however, are allowed to remain in England. Three months later, as Martin and Claudia rekindle their romance that resulted in Martin's divorce from his wife, information of MI5's involvement in the Borough Market bombing is anonymously leaked to the media.

Cast

as MI5 Agent Nazrul Sharma *

Doug Allen Doug Allen (born February 22, 1956) is an American underground cartoonist, illustrator, and musician. Best known for his long-running comic strip ''Steven'', Allen has over the years collaborated with long-time friend Gary Leib on music, anima ...

as Ryan *

as Defense Barrister Martin Rose (named Vickers in earlier versions) *

Barbora Bobuľová Barbora Bobuľová (born 29 April 1974) is an Italian actress. Since 1995, she has lived and worked mainly in Italy. Life and work Born in Martin, Bobuľová trained at the National Drama Academy in Bratislava before moving to Italy in 1995. ...

as Piccola *

as Attorney General of England and Wales *

Kenneth Cranham Kenneth Cranham (born 12 December 1944) is a Scottish film, television, radio and stage actor. Early life Cranham was born in Dunfermline, Fife, the son of Lochgelly-born Margaret McKay Cranham (née Ferguson) and Ronald Cranham, a London-bor ...

as Cameron Fischer *

Anne-Marie Duff Anne-Marie Duff (born 8 October 1970) is an Irish actress and narrator. She is an accomplished theatre actress and has been nominated for a Laurence Olivier Award. She has also received acclaim and awards for her television and film work. After ...

as MI5 Agent Melissa Fairbright *

as Special Advocate Claudia Simmons-Howe * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Tom Rose *

as Devlin *

John Humphrys Desmond John Humphrys (born 17 August 1943) is a Welsh broadcaster. From 1981 to 1987 he was the main presenter for the '' Nine O'Clock News'', the flagship BBC News television programme, and from 1987 until 2019 he presented on the BBC Radio 4 ...

as himself *

Denis Moschitto Denis Moschitto (born 22 June 1977) is a German actor best known for his roles in '' Kebab Connection'' (2005), ''Chiko'' (2008) and '' In the Fade'' (2017). Early life Moschitto was born in Cologne, West Germany, to an Italian father and a ...

as Farroukh Erdogan/Mussi Kartal *

Jemma Powell Jemma Powell (born 25 July 1980) is a British actress. She is known for portraying Barbara Wright in several Doctor Who audio stories. Career Powell made her screen debut in 2001, in '' The Hole''. She is known for her roles in films such as F ...

as Elizabeth *

Julia Stiles Julia O'Hara Stiles (born March 28, 1981) is an American actress. Born and raised in New York City, Stiles began acting at the age of 11 as part of New York's La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Her film debut was a small role in ''I'' ''Love Yo ...

as Joanna Reece * Angus Wright as Andrew Altman * Luing Andrews as Belmarsh Guard

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the film has an approval rating of based on reviews from critics. The site's critical consensus states: "Slick and well acted, ''Closed Circuit'' unfortunately never quite works up a full head of steam, with a plot that's alternately predictable and full of holes." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 50 out of 100, based on 39 critics. Peter Debruge of

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

called it a "slick, smarter-than-usual conspiracy yarn." Stephen Farber of

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

wrote: "A couple of scenes toward the end do generate the suspense that the whole movie needed. But the impact is too muted, and an air of tired familiarity ultimately curdles the entire enterprise."

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Closed Circuit 2013 films 2013 crime drama films 2013 crime thriller films 2013 thriller drama films 2010s political thriller films British crime thriller films British political thriller films British thriller drama films 2010s English-language films Films about murder Films about security and surveillance Films about terrorism in Europe Films directed by John Crowley Films produced by Eric Fellner Films produced by Tim Bevan Films set in London Films shot in London Focus Features films Films about mass murder MI5 in fiction Films with screenplays by Steven Knight Universal Pictures films 2010s British films

Plot

Cast

Reception

See also

References

External links