The Interpreter

Photo Credit: Copyright ©2005 Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

 
In the sequence preceding the opening titles, an ambush takes place. It’s apparent this is going to be central to the plot of the film, but not yet clear in what way. Only a cryptic message from one young boy, “The teacher says good day to you.”

Little details, like a broken metal detector, or a look from a person who seems somewhat out of place, are dropped as hints along the way to suggest various courses the story may take. It’s not as complicated a series of misdirections as, say, David Mamet’s “Spartan”—perhaps the greatest underappreciated drama of 2004. Also, it doesn’t take much to figure out the sociopolitical message being stated through “The Interpreter,” directed by Sydney Pollack.

Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an interpreter for the United Nations. In between sessions, she overhears a conversation in an obscure language she happens to understand. What is communicated I will not say, because once you hear it, you know about half the plot. Still, the film contains enough layers that it persuades you to take interest in how events unfold.

The nation for which she has been called to translate, Motobo, is in the midst of a political quagmire. Their leader, President Zuwanie (Earl Cameron), is suspected by his people of corruption and near-genocidal atrocities. Note that Zuwanie doesn’t outrightly deny the occurrence of the murders, as did Slobodan Milosevic and his wife. He simply rationalizes that he is, stop me if you’ve heard this one, fighting terrorism. Which kind of deception is worse?

At first, Broome hesitates to report the mysterious dialogue. However, as soon as she does, the Secret Service are called to investigate. Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is leading the inquiry. Silvia believes that Keller is there to protect her, but instead, he reveals he’s been sent to investigate her. Though he’s suspicious of Silvia, his view on UN diplomats is that, “They all began as liberators and twenty minutes later they’re as corrupt as the tyrants they overthrow.”

I found one scene particularly interesting. When a young agent is tailing Silvia on the street, his backup in a nearby vehicle calls him on his cellular phone. He answers as though it’s his mother calling. His peers advise him to stay back. By no means is this truly ingenious, but I certainly wish more thrillers were at least this intelligent.

Silvia’s paranoia about being followed comes to a head when she finds one of several tribal masks missing from the collection on the wall of her apartment. Suspecting a break-in, she consults with Keller, He’s still skeptical about any possible conspiracy and continues to be wary of Silvia.

“They can’t pick locks?” asks Silvia.

“They can,” replies Tobin. “We can tell they didn’t.”

Another twist is thrown into the mix in a rather predictable tragedy that befell Keller prior to the incident involving Silvia. This simplistic, reliable (in the sense that it is often relied upon) backstory is obviously a device used to heighten the tension between Broome and Keller. What’s of greater significance here is how Tobin Keller struggles with his conscience. He expresses the desire for vengeance, but he knows that it’s wrong. He therefore puts trust in Silvia not necessarily because he believes her, but because he believes she may be his redemption.

Often, a suspense thriller relies rather heavily on misdirection to lead you as far away from the truth as possible, only to jar you with it at the last moment. A good example of this is “The Usual Suspects.” Mind you I enjoyed that film immensely, and I think we all like to see a twister once in a while. But, I’m also fond of films that build up to something and keep you guessing in several directions at the same time… I guess it’s the next logical step now that the “twist” formula has been exploited enough that the outcome can be predicted as easily as identifying the diametric opposite of what is intended to happen.

This isn’t a thriller on the level of “The Third Man,” nor do I suspect it will linger in anyone’s minds longer than a month or two, but it’s entertaining while you’re into it. It also doesn’t play as hard and depressing as “The Constant Gardener,” another film involving clandestine politics in third world nations. This is not to say “The Constant Gardener” isn’t a great film, but while that movie aims primarily to provoke thought, this one aims chiefly to entertain, and it hits its mark.

The DVD doesn’t contain compelling extras. Each piece is relatively short, given that this is a single disc. I’ve seen countless extras that don’t go into the kind of depth and detail necessary to show you something you haven’t seen before about the making of a film. Deleted scenes in this and many other DVD’s are largely pointless, because they only seem to justify why they were omitted from the theatrical release in the first place. Nonetheless, they’re present here to satisfy anyone’s curiosity—should one care.

Ironically, the only piece that turned out to be interesting was the one I thought could be done without. There is an extra titled “Interpreting Pan & Scan vs. Widescreen,” which will be found most useful, perhaps, by the viewer who isn’t very familiar with the difference between a Widescreen (this film is presented in 2.35:1 Panavision frame aspect) versus square aspect ratio, and also Pan & Scan process—converting the former to the latter. Director/actor Sydney Pollack spends a good amount of time dwelling on square aspect ratios, because he spent a good part of his career directing films in such a format. However, I don’t think the discussion does it justice. Well, to put it precisely, this discussion, while certainly interesting, isn’t suited for this DVD and therefore can’t go as far as it should given the material being discussed. In one sense, to the observant viewer, it largely serves as a medium for Pollack to push some of his older films… and that can be tiresome for some viewers.

In his self-promotional piece where Pollack tells us of the many films he directed in square aspect, Sydney Pollack takes great care to mention only one… “Out of Africa.” This isn’t just one film he directed in square (1.33:1) aspect ratio, it’s the only one. Why didn’t he mention “War Hunt,” some of you fellow nitpickers may ask? Well, for starters, “War Hunt” was shot in a 1.66:1 aspect (non-square). Additionally, guess what… “Out of Africa” is a Universal property. This is the umpteenth Universal Pictures release since the NBC-Universal marriage in which I’ve seen what appears to be a conscious effort to mention NBC-Universal properties at every turn, in every corner.

That being said, “The Interpreter” is worth a rental if you haven’t seen it. It’s entertaining enough and not too heady for a weekend movie one can hunker down and enjoy as we—well, those of us not living in Southern California—prepare for the longer, cooler nights this fall.

The Interpreter • Running Time: 129 minutes • DVD Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Anamorphic) • Dolby® Digital 5.1-channel surround sound encoding • MPAA Rating:PG-13 for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language.