Grade: B+ | Genre: Suspense Summary: Pollack creates a compelling, tense picture through the Interpreter similar to his work in the Firm. Hollywood should be busily taking notes here. This is how a big budget blockbuster should be done. Sydney Pollack showed us with the Firm that he could string together a nail biting suspense rivaling the best of the post-Hitchcock filmmakers. His latest work, the political thriller the Interpreter, shadows real life drama in Africa to craft this intriguing work. It seems to crush its characters between a rock and a hard place. If a man killed your parents then went on to enact a massive campaign of genocide decimating your country, could you forgive him? If revenge were in your hands and all you had to do was look the other way, could you dig deep enough to find your principles in order to weigh out the right decision?

Silvia (Kidman) is an interpreter at the United Nations. While working late one evening, she overhears a plot to kill Zuwanie, the foreign dictator of the fictional nation of Motobo. The floor is dark and the voice she hears is muffled in a whisper, but she knows what she heard. She is spotted in the control room and manages to escape before they can silence her. Once her life appears in danger, she reports the conversation she overheard the night before, bringing the prying eyes of the Secret Service down upon her. Agents Keller (Penn) and Woods (Keener) are assigned the task of protecting the foreign leader and extracting everything from Silvia that they can to assist in their search. At first, she is a means to an end for Agent Keller. She holds too many secrets shrouded in half-truths that he has to get at to identify who is plotting to kill Zuwanie. As he investigates Silvia, the skeletons of her past come tumbling out of the closet to uncover that she isn't simply an innocent party in this action.

Credits Director: Sydney Pollack Starring: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn & Catherine Keener You may also like... In the Line of Fire Hotel Rwanda The Firm

This film was shot on location at the United Nations, the first film ever to be granted permission to do so. This gives the film an authenticity that would have been absent if they tried to fill in the details with CGI and replicas. The main assembly room, which occupies much of the shooting, is a massive facility that doesn't really hit you until you see Penn walking the aisles. So much history is contained within those walls. The UN definitely makes my short list of places to see next time I am touring around New York.

Our two principle actors are quite good even if they seem a bit reserved. Penn seems perpetually shell shocked from the abrupt death of his wife. We don't really see any life stir in him until he starts to connect with Silvia, which happens only after we've eaten through half of the roll of film. Penn only appears to be at 80% here. Granted most actors on their best day wish they could come close to touching Penn's 80%, yet you'd kind of like to see him stretch his abilities more after such recent jaw dropping performances in Mystic River, 21 Grams and the Assassination of Richard Nixon. Kidman fares a bit better as the independent damsel in distress trying to retain her belief in peaceful resolution as stealth guns stalk her ever move. Kidman resonates the dissonance that Silvia feels, torn between her heart and her head. She isn't necessarily at her best, but she gives a solid performance as this multi-faceted character. What few lines Catherine Keener has, she yanks the rug out from our venerated stars with her sharp, sassy wit. She is a highly under appreciated actress who deserves to find that breakthrough role to put her talent in front of larger audiences.

The relationship aspect between Penn and Kidman was handled very nicely. It was very subtle and you question throughout if we are witnessing two lost souls in search of a light, or if the chemistry is more of the physical variety that stalls out because of the situation with his wife. Just when you think you've got your finger on what is going on between these two, something happens to change your mind.

Pollack creates a compelling, tense picture through the Interpreter similar to his work in the Firm. Hollywood should be busily taking notes here. This is how a big budget blockbuster should be done. No shortcuts are taken finding a taut script and filling the lead roles with solid actors who have talent to spare. It still succumbs to some of Hollywood's excesses, but the film's style and subtlety really cover up these minor flaws. This rich, political drama brings to light the tragedies that are happening in Zimbabwe and other African nations in a manner that might be more accepting to those turned off by the harsh realism captured in the intense heat of Hotel Rwanda. This is a sharp film featuring a quality cast and one of the masters of staging thrilling dramas.

Originally Posted: April 27, 2005

Buy or rent the Interpreter now.