The Interpreter (2005)

1/15/06

Next to Munich, The Interpreter is the best political thriller of 2005. Veteran director Sydney Pollack (who also has a small role in the film) helms this, the first movie production ever authorized to shoot inside the UN building in New York. The story concerns Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) a Ku interpreter at the United Nations who overhears what may be an assassination plot against the soon to be visiting president/dictator of the fictional nation of Matobo. Sean Penn plays the world-weary Secret Service agent sent to investigate her claim. Now movies like this benefit most from going into them with as little knowledge of the plot as possible so I will stop here, but this film meet my expectations which were reasonably high. The plot which at its basics is rather simple, had enough twist and turns to be engaging. Kidman and Penn do fine jobs in their respective roles and the mutual attraction between them is handeld in a more sophisticated and subtle way then is usually the case in films of this kind. But perhaps its the feeling of realism that comes from the exclusive location shooting combined with the characters strong backstories that gives this film its weight.