Fair Game [2010]
Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune ends his review of this film with the simple tribute: “And it’s about something important.” After Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) published a report that sixteen words in the 2003 State of the Union Address by President George Bush were untrue, someone leaked to the press that his wife, Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts), was a CIA operative. The revelation changed the story from “Did the President lie?” to “Who is Valerie Plame?” The film moves easily from the international stage to the domestic as it portrays the lead up to and then the consequences of this strand in the Bush Administration’s determination to force a war with Iraq. Most viewers will appreciate the film’s intelligent handling of large amounts of complicated background information about matters like yellow cake uranium and aluminum tubes, but more problematic is the suggestion that the CIA was the unwilling victim of pressure from the office of Vice President Dick Cheney. Even so, I still felt a fly-on-the-wall enjoyment at watching the powerful people in the imperial capital wield their massive portfolios. Sean Penn is very good as Ambassador Wilson who will not be silenced by corruption, but Naomi Watts is stunning in her ability to portray a woman whose silences are necessary and nuanced, stoic and ironic, and finally, charged with emotion. I left "Fair Game" wishing it could be required watching for every American.
[Gem rating: Obsidian]
