With Barack Obama in the White House it seems filmmakers are more relaxed about making films that question George W Bush’s administration’s actions ahead of the Iraq war. And when you see how one of its loyal soldiers was treated by the vice-president’s office, you will understand why they waited.
Fair Game tells the true story of Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) and her opinionated husband, Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) in this political drama set in the lead-up to the Iraq war. Plame is an attractive no-nonsense undercover CIA agent who is part of the team testing claims about those fabled weapons of mass destruction. Wilson, a former ambassador to Niger, goes to check on the rumours of uranium sales and only finds sand and dust. Based on this telling of the story, it is amazing how much the CIA knew and how little the White House cared to listen.
Wilson doesn’t keep his powder dry and writes a column explaining his views, which explodes into controversy and infuriates the White House, particularly Scooter Libby (David Andrews is menacing as the vicious Dick Cheney staffer, despite the silly name). Valerie’s identity is leaked to the press, and suddenly her life falls apart. Wilson goes on the attack, while Valerie tries to save the lives of those operatives who helped her.
Fair Game is shot like a documentary, with drab, flat colours and hand-held cameras; it is gritty, fast moving and has sharp dialogue. We see a lot of the emotion through the press coverage and shake our heads at how inarticulately everyone from the CIA to Congress to Fox News fumbled with the truth. It is hard not be outraged all over again, or scared at how ruthlessly the White House turned against their own.
Fair Game teams Naomi Watts with Sean Penn once again (they first worked together on 21 Grams) and it is hard not to marvel at how far she has come as an actor. Penn has ripened with age, but Watts is still blooming. Their chemistry is as electric as a weary couple with four kids can hope for, and together they produce the real moments of this movie (add in Sam Shepard’s cameo as Valerie’s father). It is as much a film about how the strength of trust can hold a relationship together, as about how easily betrayal comes to those with no real character.
The major criticism goes to director Doug Liman and the decision to use an annoying wobble-cam to shoot the film. It’s fine to go for realism, but he goes to excess. Some of the movement when showing two men seated induces nausea rather than tension. The other issue is the lack of real drama for those who have followed the story over the past seven years. Apart from threatening phone calls, they don’t suffer as much as their informers. The most at stake is their marriage.
Fair Game is a very strong movie that uses the insights into the CIA and corridors of power to drive its outrage and two fine actors to carry the drama and what tension there is.
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