Interpreting the truth? (Interpreter (DVD))

Name: Ailran

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Interpreter (DVD)
Date:	14/10/05 (132 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Solid acting, nice look at the UN, ok plot

Disadvantages: Doesn't live up to first half expectations

Tag: “The Truth Needs No Translation”

Matobo, Africa, a fictional country that could be called an equivalent of the real world Zimbabwe. A country ruled with a iron rod by a president who murders his opponents and civilians at will. Villages are devastated with most of the inhabitants slaughtered or ‘missing’.

A reporter, his photographer and a guide turn up for a meeting at an abandoned football stadium. Inside three kids are playing football; they show the two men (the photographer staying outside) a pile of bodies hidden in the stadium. Shots are fired and the photographer runs, scared and not sure what happened, but fearing the worst.

Cut to the UN building in New York, Silvia Broome is an interpreter working for the UN. Born in Matobo she knows the language of the country, and presumably others to! A security alert leads to an evacuation of the building. An evacuation that leads to Silvia having to return later on to pick up her bags. Entering her booth she hears sounds out on the floor and picks up her headphones. Surprised she hears two voices, talking in low conspiratorial whispers and in Matoboan, a language that very few people in America would understand. She hears the two voices talking about their plans to assassinate President Zuwanie of Matobo when he visits the UN next week to try and avoid being pulled up in front of a UN tribunal for crimes committed in his country.
Thinking the conspirators have seen her she reports what she heard to the Un security team. After being questioned by them the Unites States Secret Service Dignitary Protection Service are called in, in the form of world weary, single man Tobin Keller (who has just returned to work) and his female partner Dot Woods.
After they have questioned Silvia Tobins first thoughts are ‘She’s lying’. His intuition and experience telling him there is more than meets the eye going on here. As a Dignitary Protection officer his remit is to make sure that nothing happens to Zuwanie while he is on American soil. Little side note here the UN while in New York is, like all embassies, not considered to be US soil. This is shown amusingly when the Secret Service first arrive at the UN and cannot get in!

As the story unfolds the tension and suspense build, the assassins trying to get to Silvia, the secret service trying to work out who is behind it all and to protect Zuwanie. All the while Tobin is trying to uncover whatever it is that Silvia is trying to hide and trying not to fall for her charms!

I am still not entirely convinced about The Interpreter, it has a great plot, doesn’t dumb things down too much and does have some moments of real edge of your seat anticipation. Somehow though it didn’t quite live up to the expectations it was building up in me. It was a bit like a roller coaster ride that takes you up and up, the excitement building as you near the crest, waiting for the long drop down only to find that when you reach the end of that crescendo all you find have is a flat ride, without the thrilling drop. The Interpreter tries to give you that climax to the building suspense but it fails to really supply it, everything it has built up just dissipating very quickly!

There is nothing fundamentally wrong with The Interpreter and I did enjoy the majority of the film. Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn are very good, even if you do sometimes feel they are coasting a bit or maybe just playing parts they know so well, the strong independent woman and the world-weary man. Maybe though it is just that they are both so accomplished at their chosen careers that it just seems that way, they just effortlessly slip into their roles.

From my own point of view there just wasn’t enough concentration on the main plot, too many sub plots just dampen the main one leaving you not really quite sure exactly what is going on. This is difficult because often this is a good idea, having the audience wonder what exactly is going on works very well, but there has to be a pay off at the end of it and, for me, the ending was a bit of a damp squib.

This is the first film to ever be allowed to use the UN building for real, and it does make a big difference. The UN is an odd place, in America but not, and it looks like a building that just has to be visited when in New York. For some reason though the makers even cock up this advantage. After the first time the Secret Service tries to go straight in and are stopped, you may be American Secret Service but this isn’t America they are told, every other time there seems to be no problem and they come and go as they please.

It is also interesting to see how the Americans see the UN, especially as both the US and UK governments have decided to go against the UN & international law and invaded Iraq. This film seems to show the UN in a very good light, they are efficient and have the right ideas in mind of how to deal with a viscous dictator. How true what we see is to real UN procedures I don’t know but everything looks real!

Overall I think I would recommend this film. It just about makes it to that position due to the fine first half, the good plot and the very good acting. Still don’t expect it to be the best film you’ll ever see!

Director: Sydney Pollack
Story ‘with the help of The Interpreter by Suzanne Glass’

Certificate: 12A
Running Time: 128 minutes

Summary: Just about gets a recommended rating!