WMD

Guess what? The American and British governments invaded Iraq on the basis of evidence of ‘weapons of mass destruction’ which the spooks knew to be false. Sadly, by this stage, such a prognosis hardly counts as news, but this enterprising low-budget thriller at least has some justification in retracing the path towards conflict. Presented as an assemblage of anonymously sourced surveillance video footage, it shows how a lowly MI5 desk jockey (Simon Lenegan) is shadowed as he realises that the higher-ups are ignoring his reports, specifically that documents purporting to flag up Iraqi attempts at purchasing raw uranium from Niger are fakes. The supposedly covert footage is credible up to a point, but falls into the ‘Enemy of the State’ trap of having cameras neatly primed every step of the way, while the overheard conversations too often seem to be explaining the plot. Ultimately, while the zeal and anger of this exposé are appreciable, its execution falls just that bit short.