The Interpreter Movie Review
Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman starred together in The Interpreter, an action/thriller about a United Nations Interpreter who overheard an assassination plot against the president of an African nation. Penn played an investigator/federal agent who was responsible for protecting the threatened dignitary. Kidman played the interpreter who had overheard the plot.I thought both Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman played their parts very convincingly, and worked very well together on screen. No over-played or stilted dialogue here, even though both actors had to cover a wide range of emotions from fear to grief to anger to love.
The plot of the movie was somewhat confusing, but that is to be expected, considering that there probably is nothing in this world more confusing than African politics.
And the movie wasn't just action and excitement - there were some more 'philosophical' moments, some things that were worth pondering after you left the theater.
My favorite was when Nicole Kidman's character was explaining to the federal agent about one of the rituals of a tribal group in the country she hailed from. Among the people of her country, when a murder was committed, the villagers would wait one year, and then they would take the murderer out to the middle of the river, with weights tied to him, with the intent of drowning him.
But the family of the murder victim would have a choice to make. They would choose whether the murderer should be thrown overboard, or set free. And the people believed this: if the victim's family had him thrown overboard, then justice would be served, but the family would remain in mourning forever. But if they set the murderer free, there would be no justice, but the family would be able to move on with life.
That reminded me of a quote by Lawana Blackwell:
Forgiveness is almost a selfish act because of its immense benefits to the one who forgives.
How very true. In the Bible, Jesus teaches something very similar when he tells his followers that a true disciple will forgive his enemies not seven times, but seventy times seven. A tall order, but a strong reminder of the power of forgiveness to heal.
I won't tell you how that philosophy comes into play in the movie - I'll just say they did a moderately good job of incorporating it into the final scene.
The other interesting philosophy that Kidman's character describes is this: We do not speak of the dead. She refused to discuss or mention by name her family members who were killed, or any of her friends who were killed in the civil war which was tearing apart her homeland.
But although Kidman's character stayed true to her philosophy about forgiveness, she rejected this philosophy. She found a notebook in which her brother had written down the names of every person he knoew who had been killed as a consequence of the civil war and ethnic cleansings in their country. And Kidman presumably realizes that sometimes, in order to change the future you must remember the past. The movie ends with her doing the following:
1. Asking Sean Penn's character the name of his recently deceased wife.
2. Reading the list of murder victims (now including her brother's name) aloud.
All in all, I thought it was an excellent movie. The one really weird part for me was, I've seen very few movies with Sean Penn, and the last movie of his I saw that made much impression on me was Dead Man Walking, which came out ten years ago. It was a bit startling for me to realize Sean Penn is a middle-aged man now...makes me feel old.
The Interpreter
Posted On Jun 10, 2005 at 4:15 AM
On Jun 10, 2005 Doug wrote: Just thought I'd add in an brief explanation of why I said they did a moderately good job of incorporating the forgiveness philosophy into the final scene.
In order to be truly in keeping with the philosophy Kidman described, whether or not the president "repents" is irrelevent, and the effect that Kidman's actions have on others is also irrelevent.
Yet both of these come into play in the final scene. Why? Because we as a society (discounting the church) do not really believe in the power of forgiveness. And so, in order to make the final scene believable, Hollywood chose to add in other motivations besides just forgiveness. I think it's a pity they did that, because it suggests that the producers themselves don't really believe the philosophy that the movie was about.
On the other hand, I suppose one could argue that the last scene was designed not to show the "forgiveness" philosophy, but the philosophy that words--while they take longer--are more powerful. The president is moved by words in a way that a gun to his forehead does not move him. But even that is a mixed and dubious message, since it is the gun which forces him to consider the words.
On Jun 10, 2005 Beth wrote: You know, that scene (when Kidman is with the president) threw me off too, in terms of the forgiveness aspect. Was it the news that she received (indirectly) from her photographer friend that finally sent her over the edge?
Doug Replied: yes, I believe so. In part the news, and in part the notebooks. Her moment of decision was when she wrote her own name at the end of the list...she chose death. Then, when it came down to it, Penn's character convinced her to choose life instead.
On Jun 10, 2005 Beth wrote: Aha, ok, things are tied together a little bit better for me.
Now what was the point of the two men who were living in the apartment, the ones who were hanging out on her balcony with a mask? Why were the going after Kidman in the first place?
Doug Replied: Okay, those two guys were hired by the sleazy politician from Africa. They thought they had been hired to assassinate all three of the big politicos (the president and his two opponents). In reality, only two of the assassinations were intended to be successful (the two that were successful). One of the men went to scare Kidman, in order to keep her quiet (because at that point there was some doubt about whether she would be able to recognize the plotters' voices).
On Jun 11, 2005 Beth wrote: Ok ok, now things are falling together. Thanks.
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