Hidden Agenda (1990 film)

Infobox Film
name = Hidden Agenda

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image_size =
caption = Theatrical release poster
director = Ken Loach
producer = Eric Fellner
writer = Jim Allen
narrator =
starring = Frances McDormand,
Brian Cox,
Brad Dourif,
Mai Zetterling
music = Stewart Copeland
cinematography = Clive Tickner
editing = Jonathan Morris
distributor =
released = September 11, 1990
runtime = 108 min
country = United Kingdom
language = English
budget =
gross =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website =
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0099768

"Hidden Agenda" is a 1990 political thriller film directed by Ken Loach and starring Frances McDormand, Brian Cox, and Brad Dourif.

Plot and context

"Hidden Agenda" depicts an investigation into the murder of an American civil rights activist in Northern Ireland by the police while driving in the company of a Provisional Irish Republican Army sympathiser. A conspiracy is gradually revealed involving a successful Central Intelligence Agency plot to influence the 1987 UK General Election and keep Margaret Thatcher in power, and previously to get Margaret Thatcher elected Conservative Party chairman over the ex-PM Edward Heath and beat Labour in 1979 through alliance with MI6 distributing black propaganda about communists influencing striks in the '70s and Heath's infidelities.

Although fictional, the film was inspired by the investigation into the Royal Ulster Constabulary's alleged "shoot to kill policy". Cox's character represents John Stalker, the leader of that investigation. E4A, an undercover unit of the Royal Ulster Constabulary claimed to be involved in the killings, is mentioned briefly in the film.

Production

During one scene late in the movie, a renegade SAS agent possessing an audio tape that incriminates the British government is kidnapped by an SAS squad and bundled into a van on O'Connell Bridge in Dublin, a very busy river crossing in the center of the city. Loach filmed the scene with a hidden camera and without letting passers-by know that they were witnessing a movie shoot.Fact|date=November 2007

Awards

"Hidden Agenda" won the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best European Film at the Goya Awards.

References

External links

*imdb title|id=0099768|title=Hidden Agenda

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title=Jury Prize, Cannes
years=1990
before="Jesus of Montreal"
after="Europa" tied with
"Hors la vie"