Backstabbing For Beginners (2018)

An idealistic and perhaps naive aspiring diplomat (Theo James) gets a dream job working as an assistant to the Under Secretary General (Ben Kingsley) at the United Nations. His boss is in charge of operating the Oil For Food program which is designed to help Iraqi citizens without allowing the oil sale to aid Saddam Hussein and his regime. But he soon finds himself involved in a system of greed, corruption, betrayal and murder under the guise of helping humanity. Based on the non fiction memoir by Michael Soussan and directed by Per Fly Plejdrup. I love a good political thriller (Z, ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, 3 DAYS OF THE CONDOR etc.) and while this one doesn't reach the heights of those movies, it deserved a better fate than slipping under the radar into oblivion. Based on a true story yet with the usual dramatic license to spice things up like a romance (Theo James and Belcim Bilgin as a Kurdish interpreter). Why do film makers think a movie must have a romance to keep us involved? Do they think we'll think the protagonist is gay if he doesn't bed down the pretty girl at his side? That aside, this is an extremely well made documentary style political thriller that leaves one with a sense of sadness (and cynicism) that corruption infiltrates everything, even the do gooders. Definitely worth checking out. With Jacqueline Bisset and Brian Markinson.