Review: Fair Game
Opening this election week, Fair Game is chock full of drama. Based on the true story of how sources in the Bush administration outed Valerie Plame as a CIA operative, the movie is a mix of genres: spy movie, family drama and political intrigue. I'd say that the film ranks up with All the President's Men as far as political pictures go. It shares the same drive and energy, and it gives an informative look into part of the mess the administration got itself into. Not only that, but the movie shows the strain this action put on Plame's marriage. Fair Game strikes a good balance in its depiction of politics/CIA elements with more domestic elements.
Fair Game kicks off in late 2001, with Plame (Naomi Watts) in Kuala Lumpur posing as Canadian Jessica McDowell (one of her many aliases). Not ten minutes later, we see her at dinner with friends back in DC, refraining from comment on political discussion even as her husband (Sean Penn) can't help from participating. She tells any friends/acquaintances who ask that she is a venture capitalist, while in secret she serves as a spy for the CIA.
When the Bush administration asks for investigation into rumors of large amounts of yellowcake uranium from Niger being sold to Iraq, Plame's boss (Michael Kelly) asks if her husband can look into it. And thus the shenanigans begin!
A large reason why this film is so brilliant is the manner in which Naomi Watts and Sean Penn interact with and play off each other as Valerie and her husband, former ambassador Joe Wilson. I may have mixed feelings about Penn the person, but there is no doubt about his dedication to character. In Fair Game, he captures the essence of Joe Wilson. Even as he seems to lose perspective on how his fight is affecting his family, Wilson's true affection for his wife and kids shines through.
Watts is equally adept in her portrayal of Plame. Her character's love for her job and her family is obvious, but when she is betrayed, we see how conflicted her allegiances become. Plame tells her husband about an exercise during spy training in which she proved that "I don't have a breaking point." After her operations are ceased -- one in particular affecting the lives of Iraqi scientists -- and the media questions her capability, Plame comes very close to having one. It is always refreshing to see such a multidimensional female character on the big screen.
Director Doug Liman filmed on location (in six different countries), which enforces the reality of Plame and Wilson's situation. Liman also serves as his own Director of Photography on Fair Game, and therefore is responsible for my only complaint about this film: too much shaky-cam. Such a technique works well in his Bourne Identity, and its use makes sense in the exterior or action scenes. But during the interior scenes between the couple, the bouncy camerawork is a tad frustrating for the viewer.
In the film, Scooter Libby (David Andrews, Apollo 13) and Karl Rove (Adam LeFevre) come off as schemers, determined to never admit to their faulty "intelligence." No fictional version of Dubya makes an appearance, but documentary footage makes his role significant. At one of his appearances onscreen, a woman behind us in the theatre groaned, "I hate that man so much." And herein lies a problem for the film: the people who really need to see it likely won't. It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that we went into Iraq under false pretenses.
But I'd argue that Fair Game should be seen by any and all. Watts and Penn deliver such powerful performances, and even the kids in the film are great. As Plame sits alone at the dinner table, anxious after dealing with harassing calls, her young daughter Samantha (Ashley Gerasimovich) comes up to her. Instead of bugging her (as Plame expects her to), the girl encircles her mother in a hug. Such a quiet, intimate moment between mother and child is captured so well in this movie that also includes some very intense, frantic scenes (such as when an Iraqi father and son try to get away from a military checkpoint). And Sam Shepard and Ty Burrell (Modern Family) make cameos!