PG-13 for Language
Cast: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Bruce McGill, Michael Kelly, Ty Burrell
Director: Doug Liman
At one point in Doug Liman's "Fair Game", an Iraqi physician recently recruited to spy for Central Intelligence asks CIA operative Valerie Plame "How do you do it? How do you manage to lie to people's faces every day?" Plame thinks for a moment. "You remember why you're lying," she replies. "And you never forget the truth." That notion rests at the center of the film, a retelling of the Bush Administration's revealing of Plame's status as a CIA agent in an attempt to discredit her husband for a 2003 New York Times op-ed piece claiming the administration manipulated intelligence about weapons of mass destruction to justify the invasion of Iraq. Certain White House officials at the time certainly knew why facts were being manipulated, but had long since forgotten the truth.
Based upon the books "The Politics of Truth" by Joseph Wilson and "Fair Game" by Plame herself, the movie is both a detailed dramatization of the events that led to the administration's decision to leak Plame's CIA status to the public, as well as an exploration into the nuances of a marriage that exists in a climate of secrets. As the story opens, we see Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) navigating the global landscape on a secret mission to combat the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. (Dramatic license obviously played a key role in these scenes, as Plame's work within the CIA was classified. Director Liman does, though, claim that credible scenarios were pieced together from interviews with other sources.)
She conceals her true work from friends by telling them she's a venture capitalist, and even her husband, former UN ambassador Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn) knows little about her work. Their time together often consists of dinner get-togethers that end up with Joe galloping into a full-on debate with a friend or two whose views he considers short-sighted.
Plame is soon asked to lead a special task force to ascertain the veracity of reports that Niger had recently sold fifty tons of "yellowcake" uranium ore to Saddam Hussein. Her husband, whose diplomatic ties rendered him quite knowledgeable about Niger, was sent with Plame's approval to investigate those reports. He determined that it would have been impossible for Niger to make such a deal. The White House was informed by the CIA of this fact in March 2002, 10 months before the president's speech on intelligence that led to the belief that Hussein was developing WMDs. In the July 6th, 2003 New York Times op-ed section, Wilson wrote: "Based on my experience with the administration in the months leading up to the war, I have little choice but to conclude that some of the intelligence related to Iraq's nuclear weapons program was twisted to exaggerate the Iraqi threat." Upon the piece's publication, then Vice-President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, "Scooter" Libby (played with spiteful glee by David Andrews) knew he had to "change the story." The dominoes fell from there.
This is somewhat of a departure from Doug Liman's usual efforts, which mainly consist of kinetic energy action pics ("The Bourne Identity", "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", and the intellectually vacuous "Jumper"). Acting as his own cinematographer, he incorporates a hand-held visual style that gives the film an uneasy intimacy, both in scenes involving the strains in the Wilson-Plame marriage and especially in early scenes where we see Plame at work undercover. The story crackles at a surprisingly steady pace, despite the fact that we know the outlines of the story. Some may claim the movie is unfair in that it only tells one side of the story, but can that really be the fault of the filmmakers, as the opposing side was never held accountable, and therefore never had to answer for their actions?
At the center of the film are the performances by Naomi Watts and Sean Penn. Watts plays Plame as a woman all too familiar with the harsh reality that in the world of intelligence-gathering, there is no real truth. Only a twisted recital of carefully choreographed lies. She brings poignancy to scenes of marital strife that could easily have fallen into the melodramatic quagmire. At one point, as she quietly exits the house to board a plane at four in the morning, her husband meets her at the door, half-asleep. He asks where she's going, though he already knows that her answer will be no answer. He sits upon the stairs, confesses his frustration with not knowing where she goes, what kind of danger she might encounter, and the fact that he can't do anything about it. She listens. Patient. Looks upon him with kind, sad eyes. Then says sheepishly "I'm going to Cleveland." She adds: "it's on the post-it" in a live delivery that we know is marital code for "we can't discuss it."
Sean Penn plays Wilson as a man driven by principles at any cost, using the media with unbridled fervor to bring a series of injustices to light. Interestingly, Penn seems to downplay the spirited bravado that is sometimes attributed to the real Joseph Wilson. He's passionate about the truth, but not reckless. (Before going to the media, there's a scene where Wilson calls an intelligence analyst, informs him secretly that the information cited in the President's speech was false. "I see," says the analyst, who then adds with a kind of subdued cynicism "so, what are you proposing?") Wilson's approach to the leak is a stark contrast from his wife's, though it's not so much the result of hot-headedness as it is the effect of a completely different frame of reference. Supporting performaces add color to the mix, especially Sam Shepard as Plame's father, a retired Air Force officer who understands all too well the moral complexities associated with patriotism.
The unfortunate truth to stories like this is that in an atmosphere of fear, reason is no match for reaction. It's not even a fair fight. After all, reason involves thought and effort. Reaction, by contrast, involves merely a willingness to be seduced into it. There are several references in the film to these White House "men of power." Though as the film points out, that power is often the offspring of fear and suspicion, and the only way for the American citizen to get around it is to see through it.
The movie makes another reference, this one to a question Benjamin Franklin was asked upon leaving the Federal Convention. A lady asked: "Well Doctor, what have we got... a Republic or a Monarchy?" Franklin replied: "A Republic... if you can keep it."
* * * out of * * * * stars
