re:mote voices

Title: The Interpreter
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, Jesper Christensen, Yvan Attal, Earl Cameron, George Harris
Director: Sydney Pollack

You know, standards are definitely slipping in the film industry. Too many films seem to be knocked out with lazy scripts and plot holes, and are just generally sub-standard.

Taking that as your base line then The Interpreter is a decent film, though given the outline of the plot if could have been much better. Undoubtedly a tighter script would have been a good start or cutting scenes that seem to have been inserted for the sake of it. Of course keeping the plot simpler might have helped as well.

Silvia Broome (Kidman) is an ex-African who now works with the UN as an interpreter. Far too conveniently she finds herself in the building at night, where she coincidentally overhears a plot to murder a politician from the country she came from spoken in a language only she would have understood. At the time what she hears doesn't make a lot of sense, but then to her horror she finds that the politician in question is in fact to visit the UN at the end of the week. So she reports this to her boss, but of course she isn't entirely believed. Keener and Penn play the part of US government agents assigned to deal with this kind of problem - but just as the film is as much about Kidman's character as it is about the plot, Penn's character is a tortured soul that eats up screen time, and inevitably will become emotionally involved with Kidman. So we just know that he will go from tough and aggressive and distrusting to supportive and interested and overly involved. Because those are the rules.

The plot is one of those ones where Penn is slapped in the face repeatedly by the punch line. Only for him to experience an epiphany at a key moment, accompanied by the obligatory flashbacks for anyone who has not been paying attention. Just as this is clumsy, so is the "chemistry" between Penn and Kidman - it just doesn't convince. Add to that the silliness - New York based agents assigned to the UN flying to Washington by helicopter for a 2 minute, basic briefing that could as easily have been done over the phone or by the wonders of email; or the photograph presented as incriminating evidence against Kidman, which even a child could tell you was the most blatantly obvious example of Photoshop that they has seen in their life. There are maybe a half dozen comedic moments through the film, but every one of them is pathetic, cringe worthy, and falls entirely flat.

So yeah. The based plot of controversial African dictator to visit the UN, an interpreter overhears a plot to kill him, she has some emotional involvement with the country he is from - that works well enough. Kidman manages to maintain a South African accent convincingly, at least until she raises her voice. Penn continues to be a strangely acclaimed actor, so I'm sure people will enjoy his performance - I don't see why.