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April 24, 2005

The Interpreter: A Four Stars Political Thriller

"The Interpreter" is not for you if your film appetite leans towards French Connection-style car chases or violence such as that in Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry movies. But if you are looking for a slice of life in the world of diplomacy and intrigue, with deception thrown, in you will thoroughly enjoy this political thriller starring Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman and the United Nations, where much of it was shot. One cannot but reflect on what it takes to keep the lid on or end regional crises so they don't threaten international peace. I highly recommend this film. It's a four star thriller.

I saw Director Sydney Pollack's 128 minute Universal Pictures production at Loew's Cineplex here in Chicago, where the cost of a ticket was $9.25. Loew's was one of the 2,758 theaters in which the film opened on April 22 in the U.S. and Canada. According to Reuters, "the film opened last weekend overseas, grossing $9.3 million from 1,157 playdates in the United Kingdom, Germany and Australia, among other foreign territories." This weekend's take was "$22.8 million in receipts, easily knocking "The Amityville Horror" to second place with $14.2 million," according to MarketWatch.

The theater was already sold out when my wife and I arrived for a 3 o'clock showing. We decide to catch the 4 o'clock show. This gave me a chance to observe those waiting to get in and those leaving the theater. In fact, I observed three audiences and noted that each was 99.9 percent Caucasian. They were also mostly of middle age. I wondered why the film did not attract many African-Americans or Hispanics since most of the nations in the UN are populated by people of color. This is something that General Electric, the owner of Universal, may want to look into.Anyway, "The Interpreter" is an excellent thriller despite Sean Penn's tiresome, sad-faced smirk that seems to be his trademark. He plays Federal Agent Tobin Keller who is assigned to protect the "The Interpreter,'' Sylvia Broome, one of the 113 staff interpreters, not translators, hired by the U.N. She is African-born and is from the fictional African nation of Matobo (Zimbabwe). She speaks an obscure tribal dialect among other languages.

While returning to U.N. headquarters to retrieve her bags following a building evacuation, she overhears a plot to assassinate Matobo President Edmund Zuwani, who is scheduled to address the United Nation's General Assembly. Zuwani, a one-time highly revered intellectual and liberator turned tyrant in his old age, is trying to protect himself from prosecution for crimes against humanity. His argument is that his actions were undertaken to thwart terrorism in Matobo. He is played by Bermuda-born actor Earl Cameron, who made his film debut in the 1951 movie "There Is Another Sun."

Of course what Broome overhears puts her in danger. Her identity becomes known when a light in the booth where she works is flipped on and the plotters get a good look at her. She goes to the Feds with what she knows and Keller is assigned to thwart the plot, if there is one. Only he doesn't believe her, or doesn't think she is telling the whole truth. There is no love lost between the two although a friendship eventually blossoms. In fact, Keller is pining over his wife, who left him for a dancer. Perhaps that accounts for the sadness he displays in the first half of the movie.

The assassination plot is believable to this reviewer. I had scares in Jamaica in 1979 while covering a United nations Conference Against Apartheid, where someone I trust overheard Jamaican agents saying I was a U.S. intelligence agent and speculating whether to do me harm. In Libya in the early 1980s, while covering an Organization of African Unity Summit, I was placed on a watch list and was allowed to leave the country after a Libyan official who had studied in the United States, and had befriended me, demanded that I be allowed to leave. Again, I was suspected of being American intelligence American agent.

Finally, it is quite scary when someone whispers in your ear and tells you that you are being watched by agents. It takes a certain coolness to operate under that kind of pressure. And coolness is what the assassins in "The Interpreter" have. They are played ably by Byron Utley and Michael Wright, another perpetual brooder in films. I think the ending will surprise you.

Posted by Munir Umrani at April 24, 2005 05:26 PM

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