Movie Review: Fair Game

Remember how all those hollywood films always portray the United States to be the savior of the world against alien invasion, armageddon, gigantic seismic waves and any form of disaster which will lead to world's end, and how the American heroes always succeed in jumping through breaking grounds, dodged under millions of bullets and escaped undetected even if they are under the most sophisticated radar system?

This is not one of those, and the reason why this film gets my thumbs up. Or should I say 'Finally, a film where americans are not seen as super humans or humans with super good luck!'

Based on the book 'The Politics of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A Diplomat's Memoir' written by former ambassador Joseph Wilson,this film brings us into the treachery side of politics and the negative impacts that the media can create. 

It started with his article in the papers pointing out that  former president George Bush's claims that Iraq was purchasing yellow cake uranium from Niger and was intending to revitalise a program to construct nuclear weapons was inaccurate. Firstly, Niger did not have that huge amount of uranium within their boundaries to even produce the allegedly reported amount. Secondly the program was discovered and already destroyed by US in the 1990s.


Since then his family's lives were turned upside down with the CIA identity of his wife Valerie Plame being exposed over the news. They started receiving threats from the public, forcing Valerie to take different routes everyday to fetch their two children to and from school, changing phone numbers several times and having to carry out daily activities in fear and under the scrutiny of the public eye. 

This film shows the audience not only the chaos and tedious fights Joseph Wilson (well acted by Sean Penn) put up against the White House, it also brings us on a journey into the emotional struggle of Valerie (Naomi Watts) between fighting arm-in-arm with Joseph and remaining on her CIA grounds not to expose her own identity, while she was pushed to the brim and her breaking point.


I like the film for the rawness of it - as much as politicians try to make politics seem all righteous, their actions/words all said/done in the name of justice and their claims all made only under sufficient evidence, at the end of the days politicians are still humans and humans do err i.e Bush's inaccurate claims; And how power and media comes to play with Valerie's identity being exposed by the media, as a deliberate strategy intended to divert the public's attention from Joseph's article.


For those who are expecting yet another america-saves-the-world kind of adventure film, do expect a different outlook from this film as it brings you on a serious and heart-pounding gripping account of a family's struggle to reclaim their lives as they stand against the most powerful authority in the world.