The Manchurian Candidate (2004 film)

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The Manchurian Candidate

The Manchurian Candidate
Theatrical Poster
Directed by Jonathan Demme
Produced by Jonathan Demme
Ilona Herzberg
Scott Rudin
Tina Sinatra
Written by Novel:
Richard Condon
Screenplay:
Daniel Pyne
Dean Georgaris
Starring Denzel Washington
Meryl Streep
Liev Schreiber
Jeffrey Wright
Jon Voight
Bruno Ganz
Music by Rachel Portman
Cinematography Tak Fujimoto
Editing by Carol Littleton
Craig McKay
Distributed by Flag of the United States Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) July 30, 2004
Running time 129 min.
Language English
Budget USD$80 million
IMDb profile

The Manchurian Candidate is a 2004 American film based on the 1959 novel The Manchurian Candidate by Richard Condon, and a reimagining of the previous 1962 film. The film stars Denzel Washington as Bennett Marco, a tenacious, virtuous soldier, Liev Schreiber as Raymond Shaw, a U.S. Representative from New York, manipulated into becoming a vice-presidential candidate, Jon Voight as Tom Jordan, a U.S. Senator and challenger for vice president and Meryl Streep as Eleanor Shaw, also a senator and the manipulative, ruthless mother of Raymond Shaw.

Contents

[edit] Plot

While the plot of the 2004 film still centers on a candidate brainwashed with the involvement of his mother and her own political aims, the mechanics of the story and the parties involved are quite different from the original film in certain events. In particular, the political dynamic of the plot is transformed: while the earlier film imagined a Red-baiting Republican McCarthy-esque figure as an unwitting front for an international communist conspiracy, the remake has a centrist New Democrat as an unwitting front for a shadowy corporate oligarchy.

The movie follows Maj. Ben Marco (Denzel Washington), a war veteran who begins to doubt what is commonly known about his famous army unit. During Operation Desert Storm, Sergeant First Class Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) supposedly rescued all but two members in his unit, of which Marco was the commanding officer. While this made Shaw a war hero, gained him the Medal of Honor, and launched him into a career in politics, Marco and other members of the troop feel that while they remember that Shaw did rescue them, they do not actually remember him doing it.

The members begin to come together in the dystopic near-future of 2008 after Shaw, now a United States Congressman, becomes his party's candidate for Vice-President. He is an unexpected candidate, as Connecticut Senator Tom Jordan (Jon Voight) was the leading choice for some time. Jordan is pushed aside by Shaw's mother, Virginia Senator Eleanor Shaw (Meryl Streep), who blackmails the party leaders into nominating her son. An obvious rivalry exists between Eleanor Shaw and Tom Jordan, partly due to a past relationship between Raymond Shaw and Jordan's daughter Jocelyne (Vera Farmiga).

After Shaw is nominated, Marco begins investigating what really happened during the war. Allied with a female FBI agent named Rosie (Kimberly Elise) he links the mystery of his lost platoon to Manchurian Global, a global conglomerate with major political connections, including the Shaw family. Soon Marco discovers Manchurian Global's brainwashing of his "lost" platoon, and their plans to take over the White House with Shaw, under the power of the company and Eleanor Shaw, who is even more power hungry than she appears.

Soon Eleanor Shaw begins to take matters into her own hands, trusting Manchurian Global less and less. Her ruthlessness is shown when she uses her own brainwashed son to assassinate Senator Jordan, who had been contacted by Marco and had begun to support his investigation in an attempt to expose her plan. As she becomes more and more controlling, it is soon revealed that the Vice-Presidential spot is not what she has in mind for her son, but the presidency. On election night, the newly elected president will be assassinated, and the planned assassin of Shaw's running mate is none other than Marco himself, who was also brainwashed in the war. With the help of the FBI, Marco arranges a private meeting with Shaw in a school which he was to cast his vote in. Marco tries once again to convince Shaw of what is happening to him. Shaw seems to agree, and gives Marco his Medal of Honor, which he says he does not deserve. Marco takes it, and Shaw receives a phone call from his mother, who wants to talk to Marco. Marco answers it, and is soon "activated" by her.

As the movie comes to a close, Shaw and Marco begin to regain a conscious state even while under Manchurian Global's control. At the election night celebration party, the newly elected Shaw and Major Marco realize what must be done. Shaw leads his mother onto the stage with him, and Marco fires one shot, killing both of them as they hug. Just before Marco can kill himself (which had been part of Eleanor Shaw's plan), Rosie stops him by shooting him in the shoulder. The FBI covers up Marco's involvement, pinning a Manchurian Global conspirator with the shooting. In the last scene, Rosie takes Marco to the compound he was brainwashed in, apparently in conjunction with the FBI investigating. Marco realizes what has happened, and lets the sea take away a picture of the "lost platoon" along with Shaw's medal of honor as if erasing what happened in that compound.

[edit] Cast

[edit] Awards and Nominations

2005 Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (Saturn Awards)

2005 BAFTA Film Awards

  • Nominated - Best Actress in a Supporting Role — Meryl Streep

2005 Black Reel Awards

2005 Golden Globe Awards

[edit] External links

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Films directed by Jonathan Demme
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