Note: You must be registered in order to post a reply. To register, click here. Registration is FREE!
T O P I C R E V I E W
BaftaBaby
Posted - 07/09/2011 : 17:22:18 apologies if this film has a former thread - I did a search but couldn't find it.
Of course I recall when the headlines were full of a story that felt quite distant, possibly even borderline trivial. That of the denunciation of expert covert CIA agent Valerie Plame, married to Joe Wilson, a former US Ambassador, subsequently teaching poli-sci at graduate level.
I'm struggling to remember whether any of the reports I glossed over at the time piqued my interest to learn more. And, I could be wrong, but what stuck was that some junior grade CIA office worker had her cover blown. I think some of the reports said her husband outed her, though that didn't seem to make sense.
It was at a time when there were recriminations, counter-recrims, and couter-counter-recrims about who ordered the Iraq invasion and why and all the WMD, sarin attacks, yada-yada.
The film - a fascinating political unravelling - is about the malleable nature of truth, and who's allowed to be sacrificed when ends, however obscene, justify means. Just who is fair game?
It's a film about the Big Lies and how they keep being told and how they keep being presented as truths that we seem all too willing to believe, and how we are all complicit when we don't challenge them. And, how even when we do, the people with the money and power will destroy us every one to get what they want. And how acts as big as war are never about what we think they're about.
It's also a film about a very human couple, whose lives have been testimony to their love of country. How a very intelligent, kind and caring couple can almost be completely derailed when the weight of the political machine hits their train.
It really doesn't matter - in cinematic terms - whether you're on this side or that side or inside or outside. That's not the point. Doug Liman's film deftly shapes a story that seems mostly based on reality and manages to structure it into moving thriller. Liman allows us past the cliches and - backed by a universally excellent cast, most notably Sam Shepard as Plame's father - provides a chance for Naomi Watts and Sean Penn to subjugate their egos beneath performances of subtle power and undeniable passion.
But I'm guessing the folks that need most to see this, won't.
