Keira Knightley is frankly very impressive as Katharine Gun, a British translator working for the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), a British intelligence agency. In 2003, Gun was so appalled by a request from the US to investigate UN Security Council Members in a bid to compromise them into voting for a proposal to invade Iraq on the premise of supposed stocks of WMD, that she compromised national security and breached the official secrets act by leaking classified material to the media in a bid to prevent war.

For anybody who remembers that era, the US Government was on a mission, obsessed with retribution for the events of 9/11. As we now know the fault lies squarely at the feet of the US intelligence services for failing to co-ordinate existing intel about the 9/11 hijackers, resulting in the deaths of 3000 innocent civilians.

Gun leaked top-secret information to The Observer, a small amount – one memo, just once, and the film delves into the consequences of her actions, including her arrest, sacking & attempted extradition of her Kurdish/Turkish husband Yasar Gun in a bid to intimidate her. Directed by Gavin Hood whose Eye in The Sky examined the morals of drone warfare, this is “A Nail-biting Political Thriller” 4 Stars.