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Depictions of frustrated and powerless United Nations troops in Hotel Rwanda (2005) gave an up close and sweaty picture of the front line in UN brokered conflict interventions. Taking a dozen steps back and viewing the grim meat-hook realities of UN intervention from an entirely different perspective, Sydney Pollack's taut political thriller The Interpreter prowls the hallways of the UN head quarters in New York and builds a spiralling maze of hidden agendas, intricate conspiracies and cut-throat strategies. In other words, just another day in politics and diplomacy. Shot on location in Manhattan and South Africa, The Interpreter is the first movie in history to receive inside access to the UN HQ, which is officially considered international territory. Hitchcock wanted to shoot some scenes from North By Northwest (1959) there but his request was rejected, and he wound up replicating the UN's famous visitor lounge. Studio system Hollywood isn't exactly scarce of sets, special effects and sound stages, so it never would have been a problem to construct a building that looked like the UN HQ, or a film-lot alternative that could serve its purpose theatrically. But seeing the previously shrouded interiors of such a significant and topical institution photographed and placed inside a narrative is a thrill, dabbles into the paint work a touch of voyeurism which in turn compliments the film's already highly plausible grasp of reality. It also helps when the cinematographer on board is superb Iran-born lens whiz Darious Knondii, who shot Jeunet and Caro's Delicatessen (1991), Allan Parker's Evita (1996), Polanksi's The Ninth Gate (1999) and Fincher's Se7en (1995) and Panic Room (2002). The premise that jump starts the plot's rollicking cascades of events concerns an interpreter who overhears a conversation about a high profile assassination plot. A sufficient degree of complexity hitches from such a well used story springboard -- essentially the pitch is a "knows too much" spiel that, in the hands of its three credited screenwriters, is refreshingly bereft of cartoon action clichés - running down darkened alleyways, oafish goons doing their boss' dirty laundry, etc. Not long after a dynamite opening sequence involving three kids, a soccer ball and a bunch of dead bodies we meet African born UN translator Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman). Broome is our wrong place/wrong time heroine who Hears Too Much and reports it to federal agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) who is sceptical of its legitimacy but cautious nonetheless. The ensuing revelations entrench Silvia inside a dangerous conspiracy layered with terrorist threats, security breaches and devious political manoeuvres. SIliva moves with an upbeat professionalism in her stride -- cool and calculated when she's nervous, sharp and determined when she's scared, and always appearing to conceal a scrutinized private agenda. A mellow, slightly mollified Sean Penn -- crinkled with more and more furrows on his brow as he gets on -- acts like an Al Pacino cop without the spontaneous outbursts. Kidman and Penn both play suave, curt professionals loyal to serving their jobs as they would their religion. Smooth quick thinkers, smart thinkers. Even if we don't come to learn in great detail the roots of their personalities and ideologies (Kidman is fortunate to have a more substantial back story than Penn) Broome and Keller remain pretty vivid vessels for the story's developments. The film's aspersions towards romance are elusive and understated, vaguely but unmistakably suggestive, and the result is a terse sexual chemistry between Kidman and Penn that boils with intensity, pounded by the natural charisma of both stars. The story and context of The Interpreter are stagy and exciting and Pollack carefully subdues his inklings towards sensationalism, so that the film generates a tight concise realism that leaves most thrillers for dead. The film is geared to entertain over inform, so the dialogue and back stories don't get bogged down by fancy vernacular and spiffy chatter, which is often the tendency for stories that immerse themselves in a fierce political climate. The plotting of The Interpreter's screenplay avoids convolution by lending formula to all of its significant doors and hinges -- the moments that spiral into a new threat or revelation or red herring -- without feeling like a cop out. The Interpreter isn't exactly going to be short listed as a visual aid for International Studies courses, but its a plausible, engaging movie that packs a punch. Two or three of the plot's major conjunction points, characterised by the film's sparse use of violence, are the pivots that really get its rhythm and atmosphere roaring. When an explosion occurs, or even when a character removes a gun from its holster, you really sit up and take notice. The momentum is a little bit too sporadic to allow the pace to really climb and soar with velocity -- sometimes it crawls when it should be sprinting, sometimes brakes when it should be dropping lead on the accelerator. At it's best however The Interpreter is a gnawing white knuckle thriller, pumping tension out of a pressure cooker of hard-boiled plots and spilling into a tangled web of cut throat politics, savage strategy diplomacy and justice system perversion. At it's worse it's a slightly clunky but diligent Hollywood picture handled with thought and restraint. |
