Segredos do Poder (1998)★ 7.0/10

The director really knows how to tell a story—two and a half hours fly by. It's basically showing us how politics is a total grind: it crushes your dreams, makes you neglect friends and family, and pushes you beyong moral judgements. And in the end? The idealists burn out or go down. The ones who've given up on ideals are still in the spotlight.

Politics in this movie is truly a messy game. It's all these self-serving people fighting to protect their own skin while tripping up others, with the campaign sponsors cleaning up the mess behind the scene.

The script is pretty solid, and the story delves into some dark themes. But honestly, Mike Nichols plays it a bit too safe with the style and pacing, which makes this political thriller about corruption too mild for what it could have been.