Fresh Reviews: "Fair Game"

Rated PG-13 for strong language.

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The story of Joe Wilson and his wife Valerie Plame is to me... and I think a good many others... one of the most fascinating and instructive stories connected to the "home front" of the Iraq war. And it certainly is one of the better publicized ones as well, as virtually every cable and broadcast news outlet, from Fox to MSNBC to the broadcast networks have covered it. But in spite of all of that, for far too many people the extent of their knowledge is little more than the headlines. "Fair Game" (the title taken from a source who told Wilson "I just talked to Karl Rove and he told me "Wilson's wife is fair game" ") goes a long way toward making of for that.

Wilson was a former diplomat whom the office of Vice President Dick Cheney requested go to Iraq to uncover the truth of reports that Saddam Hussein had purchased large quantities of Yellowcake Uranium from Niger to build a nuclear weapons program. After finding absolutely nothing to substantiate the story, he reported back what he'd found... and watched as the White House and the Bush administration ignored his report and continued to report the by-then-disproved story as fact and as a justification for increasing the war effort. The real trouble began when he published an article about his findings: a leak from the White House outed his wife as a C.I.A. agent, put her life and career in danger, and resulted in a smear campaign that nearly destroyed their reputations and their marriage. That's when the REAL fighting began.

Wilson and Plame were hardly what anyone could call flaming radicals. They worked within and for the government of their country, and put themselves in danger because they loved their country. The trouble that began when they learned that not necessarily all of the people who run that country have their best interests in mind makes for an absorbing story, but not one that's all that easy to tell as a conventional dramatic movie. But director Doug Liman ("The Bourne Identity") has found just the ticket: simply telling the story in a measured, not overly emotional style, and with just a tiny little touch of the kind of suspense movie tricks he used in the first Bourne film. A lot of the credit for how well the film works (and it works as a suspense film just as well as a true-story political drama) has to be his.

But much credit must also go to Naomi Watts and Sean Penn in the two lead roles. It isn't really a surprise to see Penn being so credible in a role that requires him to go from dedicated family man to fierce crusader trying to salvage his and his wife's reputation after much of the media falls right in line with the White House in discrediting the two of them and trying to claim that Plame was the one who made sure Wilson got the job in Iraq. But Watts... unquestionably a top-notch actress... has never really played a role that had such a wide range of emotions within the one story. To see her struggle with the decision of whether to keep quiet or go public with what she knows is to almost forget you're watching a movie star acting a role... you get a real sense of Valerie Plame and who she is. The same is true of Penn, of course. I doubt that they will actually get Oscar nominations for these roles, but they deserve to.

And, believe it or not, this movie is not ultimately about an emotional harangue against the political leadership of the United States in the early 2000's (though obviously it has some pointed things to say on that subject). What it really is, is a rousing piece of... yes...uplift. It says that while the political forces trying to remake the country are powerful, they are not MORE powerful than the citizens of the nation, provided those citizens understand and believe that they are where the real power resides (and yes, it can be incredibly difficult to make them believe that). There's even a web link in the end credits to a "make a difference" site, next to the words "Democracy only works if you play a part". But don't think that means the movie is a simple polemic, or a dry lecture. It's worlds away from that.

There have been scores of documentaries in the past few years addressing the kinds of questions and issues dealt with in this movie... indeed, they seem to have become an entire new genre unto themselves. But comparatively few films seems to discuss these issues in narrative form, even though that format can offer insights into the questions that straight documentaries can't, and get you thinking about them in very different ways. "Fair Game" is an excellently made, written and acted film that illustrates that point very well. I don't know if it will result in more movies of its type, but I'm glad we at least got this one.