In the run up to Presidential elections, the imperious mother (Meryl Streep) of decorated Gulf War vet Raymond Shaw (Liev Schreiber) has worked hard to get her son in line for the White House. Meanwhile, Shaw’s former army buddy Ben Marco (Denzel Washington) is having nightmares about their time in Kuwait. Shaw is at the heart of them and when Marco tries to alert him to the threat, it becomes clear that a greater and much more dangerous conspiracy is at work. Updating John Frankenheimer’s seminal cold-war thriller, Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) has caught the flavour for a new generation. Streep is incandescent in the role made infamous by Angela Lansbury; her unbridled lust (for power and progeny) driving the film with Washington a perfect foil; convincingly disturbed, brainwashed, driven. They are the glue that binds The Manchurian Candidate and defines it as a superior thriller whose political globalisation and subverted democracy replace communists to resonate with today’s audience. Critics of this Manchurian Candidate are right to note that it’s neither as ‘hip or daring’ as the original but fail to acknowledge that what was once outlandish has become all too plausible. It’s not that Demme is merely riding the wave of paranoia set in motion by Frankenheimer; it’s that the wave is turning tidal. Demme’s film is powerful. If you consider events like California’s trumped up electrical crisis or the activity of Sydney Water as acts of corporate terrorism, then this film quickly stirs a very real sense of dread that speaks as clearly as the original nightmare. The difference for us is that they now appear in daylight. // COLIN FRASER