Where history leaves off, Hollywood takes over

Published on January 3, 2008

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Jon Voight, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris, Harvey Keitel, Diane Kruger, Justin Bartha

Directed by Jon Turtletaub

Running time: Two hours and four minutes

Hanuman rating: HHHH

While the original was something of a poor man's "The Da Vinci Code", this one makes no pretence in being pure escapist fare that goes all out to shock and engross audiences.

To be sure, the plot is outrageous, demanding that Nicolas Cage not only break into Buckingham Palace, but kidnap the US president as well.

Still, thanks to a good script and, even more importantly, the divine intervention of Helen Mirren and Jon Voight as Cage's parents, this movie is really too good to miss.

If you need to take the family for one good outing over the holidays, check out this flick.

For more thoughtful cinema-goers, "Treasure" serves up an insight into how the United States evolved from a loose collection of colonies to the strong federal state that we know today, thanks to Abraham Lincoln, who, as the film accurately portrays, was a federalist.

The scene of Lincoln's assassination that opens the film is well handled by director Jon Turteltaub, who brings accuracy, but more importantly, fairness and balance to the re-enactment.

He takes into account John Wilkes Booth's side of the story, and the reasons his group so strongly disagreed with Lincoln and the Civil War.

While Cage professes that Lincoln is his "favourite president", Turtletaub does not forget that a great many Americans today do not share that opinion.

Ed Harris plays the film's heavy, a descendent of Booth. But again, it is to the filmmaker's credit that they do not make him into a total monster, but give him the dignity and credibility that opponents of the president deserve.

The sensitive handling of such a delicate task is the measure of this film.

Cage and trusted accomplices Diane Kruger and Justin Bartha do well to make their roles as historians seem exciting, when in truth the reality is a bit more subdued.

But the great thing about the study of history is that knowledge of the past often makes it easy to guess how the future will play out.

And as Gore Vidal, one of the great students of US history, once said, the best part about passing judgement is getting to say "I told you so".