THE INTERPRETER
US, 2005, 130 minutes, Colour.
Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Jespar Christensen, Ivan Attal, Michael Wright, Earl Cameron.
Directed by Sidney Pollack.
Very smart casting to have Oscar-winners, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, starring together. Audiences expecting romance on screen will detect some teasing possibilities but will have to admit that this is not at all the focus of The Interpreter.
Rather, it is a contemporary thriller, a plot like many of those 500 page novels that people buy at airports, an entertaining read. This is an entertaining watch - a bit of Ludlum-like international conspiracies, some secret service police work and, because this plot has an African background, there are echoes of Wilbur Smith. Quite effective ingredients.
The appeal is to an older, more thoughtful audience.
Mention of Africa reminds us how topical this story is. The screenwriters must have had Robert Mugabe and recent history in Zimbabwe firmly in mind when they created a liberating hero who had lost his early ideals and had turned his country into something of a police state. They could well have had the Congo in mind as well with echoes of the tragic events in the Rwanda genocide of 1994. There are also reminders of 2004 events where Mark Thatcher was linked with European mercenaries involved in toppling a government.
We realise that this kind of screen story twenty years earlier would have been set in Latin America, in Chile or El Salvador, with secret police and ruthless dictators. Events have moved on to more peaceful democracies in that part of the world – although it still provides many stories of abductions and drug lords. Now it is the turn of Africa. This is a thriller that is also meant to make its audiences consider pressing issues in the contemporary world.
The setting is the United Nations, under fire in recent years, especially with criticism from the US government. The Interpreter is strongly on the side of the UN with discussions about the relative effectiveness of violence versus diplomacy. ‘Diplomacy might take longer but it is more lasting.’
So, this is the kind of film that does not appeal to those of a more hawkish disposition and who prefer to go into action quickly and solve problems. Those who are more sympathetic to dovish stances will be on side. It is the kind of film that could be characterised as somewhat left-wing liberal, wearing its heart on its sleeve. It believes that goodness can overcome evil, even terrible evil.
Perhaps this appealed to Sean Penn’s political views. He gives a solid performance as a man grieving the death of his wife, a secret service agent who is commissioned to protect a witness and prevent an assassination in the UN chamber. Nicole Kidman is the interpreter, a refugee from a fictional southern African country (with accent to match), who has information about the assassination but who only gradually reveals the truth about herself. Catherine Keener is Penn’s tough and efficient partner.
Since the action, apart from a prologue in Africa that highlights the ruthlessness of death squads, takes place over a few days, action has to be tight and well-paced. It also means that back stories have to be filled in so that audiences can be emotionally as well as intellectually involved in the issues of liberation, terrorism (and there is a horrendous bus crash sequence in mid-town New York) and national and international security agencies.
The United Nations building plays a crucial role and the audience has a strong sense of its environment and the whole city of New York.
Direction is by veteran Sydney Pollack (The Way We Were, Tootsie, Out of Africa) who made the 1970s conspiracy theory film, Three Days of the Condor. He has not lost his touch.
1. The United Nations in the 21st century? Its history? Ability to peace-keep or not? Defiance of the US and the UK? Facing international terrorism? The issues for different countries, for individuals?
2. The UN and its status, filming in the UN, authentic atmosphere, the hall and the sessions, the booths and translators, the foyers and offices?
3. The vistas of New York City throughout the film, the chases in the streets, the apartment blocks, the bus? The reality of the US? The opening with Africa, the dust, the roads, the stadium? The musical score?
4. Sidney Pollack and his career, dramas, espionage?
5. The opening, the dusty roads of Africa, the vehicles, audiences thinking about Africa in the 20th and 21st centuries? The modelling of Zimbabwe and Congo? Other parallels? The history of revolutionary leaders, young and vigorous, idealism, the uprisings, the gaining of power, wealth, getting older, corrupt? Politics, change, dictatorship? The visit to the stadium, Simon and the photographer, the leader? Going into the stadium, the kids playing, discovering the bodies, the shootings? The officials arriving? The assassin? The photographer and his fear, escape? Setting the tone for the drama?
6. The reconstruction of the uprising, the leaders, the alternative leaders? Sylvia, her past, her love affair with Xola, the photos of her with a gun? Separation, the death of her family through the landmines? Her loss of contact with Simon, going to the US, her hopes?
7. Sylvia in New York City, at the United Nations, her skills in translation, her knowledge of the local language? Music, the clearing of the United Nations, the security guard allowing her back? Overhearing the conversation – intended or not? Her knowledge of the language, her fear, initially not telling the authorities, finally giving information, their scepticism? Her personal story being gradually revealed? Her reticence?
8. The authorities, tapes, identifying voices or not? Sylvia at home, her fears? Surveillance? On her motorbike, chased, rammed? The attack in the apartment? The photographer’s visit, her going out, trying to elude the police following her? Her going to the alternate leader, the discussion with him in the bus, her blaming him, her getting off – and the explosion?
9. Sean Penn as Tobin Keller, the death of his wife, listening to her voice on the answering machine? Coming back to work? Dot Woods as his partner, friend, her advice? His morose attitude? His not believing Sylvia, telling her that she was the most suspected? The surveillance, communicating with her through the phone, watching from the other building? The interrogations, his exasperation? The continuing puzzle? The attack in her apartment, her going out to meet the photographer, discovering that he had killed himself?
10. Dot, tough, collaborating with Keller, her advice?
11. Philippe, his escape in Africa, the message to Sylvia, his coming back to New York, the talk, his not telling her the truth, the letter and his killing himself?
12. The alternate leaders, Xola murdered in Africa with Simon? Kuman-Kuman? in New York, his following, in exile? Sylvia getting to him? Travelling on the bus, his constituents? The terrorist on the bus, the FBI agents, the radio contact? Sylvia getting off, the explosion and the death of the agents?
13. The head of security for Matobo, sinister, Afrikaaner style? The past and apartheid regimes? The discussions with Keller, wanting to be present, his overstepping his authority in interviews? Keller getting him to back off? The irony of his true task?
14. President Zuwanie, the plan for his address to the United Nations, to justify himself? The background of unrest in Matobo? The security plans and the details for the visit? The killer and the plan? AIDS sufferer, promises of payment to his family? Gamba as the assassin in Africa, in New York City, his taking the place of the worker, murdering the worker? On the bus? His being shot by Keller? The build-up to the United Nations visit, the police on the trail? The assassin, getting into the building, the confrontation with the head of security, his being shot? The staging of the overall plan?
15. The president, security, his conniving in the assassination attempt? Sylvia and her being hurried out of the country, her not going to the airport? Her card and getting into the building, finally confronting the president, Zuwanie and his book, his ideals, her shaming him?
16. Sylvia and the gun, the possibility of resorting to violence? The temptation? Keller and his explanations, persuasive?
17. The trial, the aftermath, Keller meeting Sylvia, the feelings that had grown up throughout their contact? Their double grief? The future and the invitation to Africa?
18. The significance of the story, the details the topicality of such a film?
