THE GIRL IN THE CAFÉ - 2005 *****

Director: David Yates (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
(Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince)
Screenplay: Richard Curtis (Love Actually) (Bridget Jones Diary)

This made for TV movie is a romance that evolves into a compelling political commentary that can not be ignored.

Set at a 2005 G8 Summit meeting in Reykjavick, Iceland the participants must deal with promises made at the 2000 G8 meeting to provide humanitarian aid to third world countries suffering from starvation and ravaged by AIDS.

Lawrence (Bill Nihy) a lonely, middle aged civil servant working for the Chancellor of the Exchequer, meets the enigmatic Gina (Kelly McDonald) in a café. Their relationship of mutual emotional need develops and he asks her to travel to Reyvkjavick with him.

As political turmoil grows among the participants of the meeting it is Gina’s naiveté and outspokenness at a dinner reception that sets the plot in motion. Naturally this gets Lawrence in hot water with his boss.

Gradually the pressures of world opinion mount on the G8 participants. Will history remember this meeting as the one that really made a difference?

This romance intertwined with highly emotionally charged human and political issues engages the viewer from beginning to end are as real as the emotional issues that hold Lawrence and Gina together.

One caution, if you saw "Love Actually" you will have trouble not thinking of Bill Nihy as Uncle Billy.
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