Wow, what a brilliant, mind-boggling movie and it was just a impulsive purchase in a local, village supermarket where among washing powder, toothpaste and liquid soap they have small box with cheap DVDs on sale. It all looks very unconvincing and covers are not very exciting, however we finished with all "Inspector Poirot" series on DVD so hey, let's get something just for the evening - with holiday cakes freshly baked and lots of drinks going around the table & wood cracking in the fireplace. Let's watch some thriller. And than we get more that we bargained for, the rest of the evening we were actually terrified and alarmed with what we saw on the screen - even talked about the movie days after.
What initially was "just a movie" quickly evolved into really strong story about serious moral issues.
Does the ending justifies the means we use? Is it correct to torture prisoner? Or is it more "human" not to use torture and risk millions of people die instead?
The movie centers around interrogation of a white American Muslim who blackmails the government or else he has several nuclear bombs ready to explode in various secret locations hidden around the country. Its not just some ordinary wacko but the man who was trained with nuclear weapons and has army past, the man who was prepared to get arrested and tortured for his beliefs. All sorts of secret agents, policemen and politicians are circling around him - terrorism and bombs are serious threat indeed - though there are some who won't even take him seriously. What if its all just a hoax? Even more surprisingly, his demands are not demands of a madman, he wants the president to announce that the United States will stop supporting puppet governments and dictatorships in Middle Eastern countries and a withdrawal of American troops from all Muslim countries. Sound reasonable enough, you might say, lots of people would want the same - but government won't budge and they would rather torture prisoner (or get those darn bombs explode) than to change their international policy. The more I think about it, the more I see roles of good and bad guys interchanging here. We also have two main protagonist in soft-hearted FBI inspector and cold blooded interrogator (echo of "good cop,bad cop" routine) running around and screaming at each other while the clock ticks and there are just 24 hours left until bombs start exploding.
As a viewer I went trough several different phases of changing my opinion here - it would be too easy and simplistic to dismiss Yousef as a "crazy terrorist" if we don't understand that this is someone who was willing to die for his convictions, and actually not for helicopter and bunch of money but for world peace. This is something that I personally find incredibly strong point. These are not just empty words, this is my own opinion because during my own war experience it went trough my head that if I could somehow (theoretically) get to "enemy president" and kill him & die than, my death would be less important than peace for everybody. Believe me, I would have done that. However, from this perspective I also understand that aggression breeds aggression so perhaps I would have die pointlessly. Humans are the most dangerous species on the planet and perhaps they deserve everything that happens to them.
Back to the movie - actors are all exceptional. Lots of praises went for Samuel L.Jackson as hard-core interrogator, in my opinion he did a good job but its easy to admire him as we are familiar with his earlier work, he is known actor and people would always take him to hearts simply because they recognize him. Carrie-Anne Moss as FBI inspector has very difficult role in a man's movie because she is basically on every body's way, Jodie Foster might have been better choice here. But for me the main star is brilliant Michael Sheen who is dazzlingly versatile actor (I remember him from ridiculously varied screen portraits, from Tony Blair to SF Werewolf) and who spits his guts here still getting across as a human and not a madman. Brilliant movie with some seriously important questions camouflaged as political thriller. To my biggest surprise it went straight-to-DVD hell and was therefore marginalised in media, however it deserves to be seen. I can't understand how anyone can watch this and be unmoved.
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