After viewing the press preview of the movie on Friday night, I was left feeling so emotive of the likes I've not before experienced from any motion picture. I'm not sure that I can even put this into words... normally after watching any movie, it's quite common for my wife and I to discuss what we thought and the impressions that it left on us.
Driving home on Friday night, I was actually speechless... not figuratively, but quite literally! So much so, that Sammi was worried about what might be causing my despondent attitude. It wasn't until some hours later after having arrived home and doing my own in-depth research on Iraq's supposed 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' (WMD) program, that I opened up and discussed my feelings on the entire affair and the movie itself.
I do not wish to proclaim myself now as an expert on the subject, so I strongly urge all of my readers and subscribers to go and see this movie when it is released, do your own google searches and research, watch some YouTube videos of the real Valerie Plame, and then if you so desire, come back and post your thoughts as comments here.
FAIR GAME
Release Date: 13 JANUARY 2011
Rating: PG
Running Time: 108 minutes
Chinese Title: 不 公 平 的 战 争
Directed By: Doug Liman
Starring: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Sam Shepard, Bruce McGill, David Andrews
Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately?), I'm old enough to remember Sean Penn as a teenager in some very hacky comedies... never would I have thought that he would develop into such an extraordinarily talented actor. A scene of his in this movie literally moved me to tears!
Penn plays the part of Joe Wilson, who in real life was a former ambassador to Niger. After being sent by the State Department to Africa to investigate an alleged deal with Iraq - the purchase of enriched uranium. Joe discovers that the deal never in fact took place and his findings are corroborated by other evidence, however the White House still announce publically that the sale occurred and subsequently declares war on Iraq. Joe struggles with this blatant misdirection and ends up writing an article in The New York Times... this brings about a methodical attack by the US Government on Joe's family and ultimately results in untold number of innocent human casualties.
Joe's wife (played by Naomi Watts) is real-life undercover CIA officer Valerie Plame - after Joe's article in the New york Times, Valerie's identity and covert status is leaked to the press by the White House (illegally). Not only does it put in danger the lives of many people with whom she has been working with in numerous locations globally, it is believed to cause the death of many innocents and of course destroys her career and nearly her marriage.
Her work in the CIA’s counter-proliferation department, also leads her to discover that Iraq has no active nuclear weapons program.
I don't wish to create any spoilers for the movie, so I'll leave it here - check it out for yourself and see how you feel about the reasons behind the war in Iraq, your beliefs about WMD programs and certain 'US officials'. I'd love to hear about it.
TRAILER:
REAL LIFE - VALERIE PLAME TESTIFYING IN CIA LEAK HEARINGS:
Click here for Production Notes
No comments:
Post a Comment