Closed Circuit

Closed Circuit takes on surveillance systems, whistleblowers and the quagmire of “national security” issues from another angle. The setting is Great Britain, WikiLeaks revelations are not an issue, and the secrets uncovered will remain hidden from the public. Instead, judicial tyranny and the malfeasance of spy agencies have the foreground, and the plight of potential whistleblowers is the central drama. Eric Bana and Rebecca Hall play defense lawyers who uncover an elaborate judicial sham in a terrorist bombing case to which they’ve been assigned. Compromised by shared personal secrets, and seriously menaced by government officials operating behind a veil of secrecy, the two of them must take flight and bargain for their own survival via the few remnants of legal and moral redress left to them. The spirit of social protest, which seems cautious but not unhopeful in the just-released The Fifth Estate, looks to be nearly extinct in Closed Circuit. Pageant Theatre. Rated R.