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Less a remake of John Frankenheimer’s 1962 thriller than a modern re-imagining of Richard Condon’s original novel, Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate is surprisingly relevant in today’s times of orange, red, and yellow terror alerts. At its center is Sargent Raymond Prentiss Shaw (Liev Schreiber), Desert Storm veteran and current Congressman vying for the U.S. Vice Presidency. A chilling personification of what can result when political and technological power falls into the wrong hands, Shaw also serves as a startling parallel to a man who calls himself the leader of the United States today, an individual invested in-and created by, really-the financial aid of a private corporation and the prestigious reputation of his family name. The only differences are that in The Manchurian Candidate, that man’s a Democrat backed by a group called Manchurian Global, not a Republican associated with Haliburton; his ever-present, media-friendly mother, Senator Eleanor Prentiss Shaw (Meryl Streep), is certainly no Barbara Bush, but rather a blood-sucking, self-absorbed politician who wears the seemingly mandatory corrupt nature that comes with her job description all too well; and, most significantly, this politician’s underhandedness stems not from his own moral fiber but from the brainwashing he underwent while serving in Kuwait. While it’s debatable whether Demme had specific political figures in mind while crafting The Manchurian Candidate, the film’s ideas of private interests ruling the government, research regarding brain science being used for harm instead of good, and vast conspiracies to ensure the continued ignorance of the American public are all urgently, and undeniably, now. Demme’s stance on the U.S. government and its relationship with the country’s people today is neither liberal or conservative; rather, it uses these relevant political issues of today as a platform, a springboard from which to propose a yarn of intriguing moral conflict that stretches across all party lines to present a bold snapshot of a nation in a time of great uncertainty and a governmental system of often questionable morality.

Expertly capturing the deep sense of paranoia running rampant amongst U.S. citizens today is Denzel Washington as Major Ben Marco, leader of Sargent Shaw’s unit in Desert Storm. Marco, never having mentally recovered from his traumatizing experiences overseas, is now the leading figure in the quest to discover whether there’s any truth behind the horrific nightmares he, along with fellow servicemen like Corporal Al Melvin (Jeffrey Wright), have been experiencing. The unsettling dreams, Marco insists, aren’t merely the effects of Gulf War Syndrome but something more-the sight of both himself and Shaw murdering their fellow troops at their captors’ commands feel far too real, and the story he’s told the press countless times about Shaw’s bravery in single-handedly saving their unit seems fabricated to him. It doesn’t take long to figure out there’s truth in Marco’s claims they’ve been brainwashed: The eagerness of everyone surrounding Shaw to not discuss what happened in Desert Storm and Shaw’s own admittance that he doesn’t remember performing the heroic acts that handed him the Medal of Honor are just two of the many clues on which Marco has to build his case. And as he digs deeper into the mystery, Marco comes to suspect he and his men were brainwashed not for simple titillation but for a purpose-to place a sleeper into the White House that could, potentially, bring about the end of American democracy.

Despite movie violence and gore being at an all-time peak, the flashbacks to the actual implanting in Kuwait are less prominent and a bit tamer here than they were in Frankenheimer’s film. Demme’s Manchurian Candidate is more interested in the potential of the implants than the act of brainwashing itself (though one great sequence does show the implantation of a chip into Raymond); his version thrives completely on the conflicts that arise through Major Marco’s quest for truth and the Shaw family’s elaborate dysfunction. Ensuring the film’s more cliched aspects are given a fresh spin even when they seem slightly far-fetched are screenwriters Daniel Pyne and Dean Georgaris, who, with Ben Marco, have deconstructed a stereotype and inflicted the political ills of today upon it to create an entirely new entity. Initially a traditional hero-in-crisis role audiences would expect Washington to take on-a humble, likable man who passes on his amiable personality alone-Marco’s given a new spin here thanks to the looming question of whether or not he is indeed slightly delusional. The result is a protagonist that actually improves upon the one presented by Frank Sinatra over forty years ago; it’s less a star turn than it is a refreshing change-of-pace for Washington, whose riveting work here ranks with his best. Also improved by the script is the character of Rosie, first brought to screen by Janet Leigh and now the alluring Kimberly Elise. The woman who falls for Marco upon their meet-cute train meeting, she was initially played by Leigh as slightly suspicious, but, alas, there wasn’t much going on beneath the surface of her character. That’s not the case in 2004. This Rosie is not only far more interesting and three-dimensional but pivotal to the plot as well, and she’s given a surprising amount of baggage throughout the film’s final third.

Though it’s Washington’s Marco that holds the film together structurally, it’s Schreiber’s and Streep’s turns as a possibly incestuous, surely demented mother-and-son pair that bring it to electrifying life. By making Raymond the Manchurian candidate himself (rather than his senator stepfather, as was the case with the source material), the film has put his complex character directly in the line of fire to create an intense plot dynamic that pays off wonderfully in the climax. The stakes are heightened by Schreiber’s well-modulated and often downright scary performance that constantly leaves one wondering: Is Shaw a helpless victim of his Kuwaiti captors or of his own tenacious mother, who will stop at nothing to ensure her own political agenda is fulfilled? Or, even more juicily, are the two intertwined? Schreiber’s work wouldn’t be complete, though, without Streep’s conniving senator, who’s constantly calling to check up on her son or bullying, well, whoever’s around. Playing Eleanor Shaw as Hillary Clinton by way of Richard Nixon, Streep not only provides the film’s pinnacle as a woman so evil even D.C. might find her morally unsound, but embodies what’s so right about Demme’s adaptation as a whole: Refusing to simply mimic Angela Lansbury’s legendary 1962 performance (which the actress claims to have never seen), Streep makes Shaw her own so that audiences down the road will be discussing not how she approaches a character that’s already been perfected but how she infuses new life into it and perfects it once again. Likewise, instead of trying to one-up Frankenheimer’s film, The Manchurian Candidate rides on the noble conceit of updating a story of political greed from yesteryear for a modern generation that sees no shortage of it in its country. Whether it’s dated or not in ten years, Jonathan Demme’s The Manchurian Candidate will undoubtedly endure as a distinct reminder of a nation’s political atmosphere during one of its most troubling periods.

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