The Bourne Ultimatum
The Bourne ultimatum is about a guy that works for the CIA, but at the same time is trying to uncover his identity. The movie represents a variety of political messages that portray a corrupt government who through secrecy utilize their power to better the personage. The Bourne ultimatum shows a variety of political messages such as individuality, corruption, conflict, role of government, power and secrecy. However, the main theme portrayed throughout the movie is the involvement of corruption in the Central Intelligence Agency.
Several individuals were portrayed as having too much power. To understand Bourne ultimatum you may need to watch the first movie (the Bourne identity) as well as the second movie (The Bourne supremacy). The Bourne ultimatum is a movie that transfers the corruption of the CIA. For example, the CIA officers, are officers that protect the nations and investigate terrorism so that it is ceased. How is it possible that there are officers that are complete hypocrites because they betray their nation. The movie also helped demonstrate how the corruption is served by betraying the country.
As the film unravels the involvement of corruption only deepens and the relationship between corruption, secrecy, power and individuality seem synonymous. As the protagonist, Jason Bourne struggles to find his own identity, the involvement of corruption in the CIA worsens. According to Bourne’s head trainer Conklin, Jason Bourne is a “malfunctioning 30 million dollar weapon of the United States government”. He is a highly trained assassin who is suffering from amnesia struggling to find his own identity.
Bourne was involved in a top secret program called “Treadstone”, which went wrong after the program attempted to alleviate a conflict by assassinating of a political leader. The second movie begins before the end of the events in (The Bourne Supremacy). Bourne Ultimatum ultimately reveals the total corruption involved in the CIA and Bourne’s true identity. Bourne then reads an article in The Guardian by Ross about Bourne, Treadstone, and “Operation Blackbriar. ” He then arranges to meet Ross in London at the south entrance of Waterloo Station.
Ross, however, is under surveillance because his use of the word “Blackbriar” in a phone call to his editor was tracked by Echelon, alerting the CIA. CIA section Chief Noah Vosen alerts his staff at the Anti-Terrorism Deep Cover in New York to find out any information on Ross, believing that Operation Blackbriar has been compromised. Vosen orders an assassin, Paz, to kill Ross and his source. Vosen’s team identifies Bourne on a security camera and recognizes him as the original Treadstone assassin, and assumes he is Ross’s source.
While Paz gets into a position with a sniper and kills Ross, Bourne went to Ross body and gets his note and he run away. In this scene, the government’s agents received information that a British news reporter uncovered something about an operation called Blackbriar, so they tried to track him down by looking up his record. They were able to find his personal information including his address, cell-phone numbers, and job location. During this process the agents hacked into the news reporter’s email transactions and discovered that he bought a train ticket so agents were sent to the train station to capture the reporter.
When the reporter arrived at the train station the agents monitored his every move from a room filled with high tech computers and TV screens that were hooked up to the surveillance cameras, and satellite communication system. Surveillance cameras are there to make sure that no shady activities are present. People recognize that they are there, but the CIA used the cameras to help them capture the reporter and Jason Bourne, so their secrets will remain secret. Later in the movie the CIA officials sent an assassin to kill the reporter, and the cameras assisted in locating the position of the reporter.
When the assassin shot him, the security cameras were purposely turned off. This is not acceptable! The cameras are not there to aide murderers. The CIA is protected by the Patriot Act which allows them to access medical records, tax records, and information about the books that one buys or borrow without probable cause, and the power to break into your home and conduct secret searches without warning or probable cause (USA Patriot Act). The Patriot Act is aimed at terrorists or people that are potentially terrorists and it doesn’t give the government the power to kill innocent people.
Even though the reporter was not a British Citizen, the CIA agents were from the US so they should follow American laws. Also the reporter in this movie was not a terrorist. He was harmless to society. He just happened to hear something that he wasn’t suppose to hear. This movie shows what the government is capable of doing, and they could be monitoring the everyday lives of U. S. Citizens, listening in on our phone conversations. Pamela Landy is asked to help capture Bourne. With Landy’s help, Vosen and his team also determine that Neil Daniels is Ross’ source.
By implementing Landy in the films was a successful character, the director attempted to send an important message to his audience. I believe that he tried to instill the idea of separated Landy from the other male characters was corruption, Landy worked to answer questions and find truth. She was portrayed as the ideal CIA official. Vosen and his team also determined that Neil Daniels is Ross’ source. They send a team to Daniels’ office in Madrid, to kill her, but Bourne get first to save her and killing Desh Bouksani that was the guy they send to kill Daniels.
Bourne later found out that Blackbriar was Treadstone’s “dirty little secret”, it provided a way for corrupt CIA officials to cover up their slip ups by sending Bourne to eliminate targets. This would allow the officials to keep their corrupt ways a secret. They utilized their power; Blackbriar, to carry out their own dirty missions. Bourne takes a flight to New York City, he calls Landy while observing her and Vosen from across the street, the same call that was shown at the end of the second movie.
Bourne sends a text message to Landy to arrange a meeting. Vosen and his team intercept the message and follow Landy as she leaves the building. However, the meeting is simply a diversion to allow him to enter Vosen’s office and steal classified Blackbriar documents. Landy gave Bourne the address of the Treadstone R facility in code when Landy gave Bourne his date of birth. Bourne meets Landy and gives her the stolen documents from Vosen’s office before entering the building. Landy finishes faxing away the Blackbriar document that Bourne stole to the FBI.
Landy realizes that the man she is working with to find Bourne is also corrupt. The CIA director Noah Vosen was Blackbriar’s “operational chief,” and DR. Albert Hirsch was the “alleged mastermind of the program” She wasn’t able to prove this if Bourne had acquired the files needed to prosecute the corrupt CIA officials. By achieving these files and confronting the officials Bourne was able to find his true identity. In this movie we have the opportunity of see how the CIA, works in their secrets case.
I believe the director may want to teach the audience showing example of how the government works and as well making to see not matter how important can be the agency there still haven individual that there dishonest. Also the director included political messages and carefully placed cameras in order to capture the real life possibilities of corruption, secrecy, power in our government. The camera angles were set as if the movie were a documentary, everything was set up so that it all seemed real and was happening now. This method made the film seem more real and believable.
It greatly highlighted the quality and sense of reality throughout the film. In the sense of corruption the film is pretty accurate in its representation of the political system. For example, corruption among high levels of government like those involved in the Watergate and the occasional CIA leaks that we see on CNN and FOX news channels are established in the Bourne movies. All of these ideas are introduced and incorporated into the Bourne films which furthermore increase the films realistic and documentary feel. In effect, the director successfully increases the validity of the film’s material. Another aspect The U.
S. Government takes a lot of safety precautions to protect its property and people, but sometimes they go too far even as far as to invade the privacy of its citizens. In the new film Bourne Ultimatum many example of privacy invasion is demonstrated. Some of these examples of privacy invasion are acceptable under extreme circumstances, but others are not. Otherwise what increased the films reality was Bourne’s ability to use anything in order to complete his tasks. He worked with what he was given and it made the audience really appreciate his craft and skill with his ability to maneuver things to work in his favor.
Another example are the fighting scenes, he was seen using not only guns, but also cords, towels, books, to defend himself and neutralize his opponents. He used whatever it took to get the job done and stay alive. This is important because according to field operation officers like Bourne were highly trained in areas such as, self defense, weapons handling, high speed driving, disguise, and secret writing communications, which all represent an entire array of what CIA calls the trade craft skills.
A good fields’ officer makes anything his weapon. The more trained you are with weaponry, more missions will be completed. The film reflected a negative outlook on American politics. It demonstrated the U. S. government particularly the CIA as being a corrupt agency that utilized their reserved powers to resolve not only regular but also personal conflicts through secrecy to better their individual selves.
The idea of imperfection, political messages like corruption, and from a general standpoint accurate portrayal of an operations field officer, qualifies the trilogy as a representative piece of American politics. The Bourne films give a realistic point of view; government is not perfect! Contrary to most films the Bourne movies show that the government too is vulnerable to issues like corruption, secrecy, and abuse of power. By filming as if the film were a documentary on Jason Bourne, the film ultimately delineates imperfection amongst our levels of government.
