 October
2005
This month's reviews:
The Interpeter
One movie definitely worth your time and money is Director Sidney
Lumet’s The Interpreter, which has been out for a few months
but is still playing in some theaters and is available on video or
DVD.
Starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, The Interpreter is
the first picture ever to be filmed on United Nations premises.
Kidman plays Sylvia, a youngish American woman who was raised in the
fictional southern African country of Matobo. She is fluent in Ku,
the native language of the country, and works at the U.N. as a
simultaneous translator.
Here’s the plot: Alone in her office at the U.N. one night,
Sylvia overhears the details of an assassination plot. In so doing,
however, she reveals herself to the conspirators, putting herself in
grave danger. Penn plays Tobin, the Secret Service agent in charge
of protecting Ku’s president, the person scheduled to be
assassinated. Tobin and Sylvia of course meet and get to know each
other.
On the Plus Side:
The film gives us fascinating views of both the U.N. and the
activities that go on there. The action is exciting, and the
principals give good performances, especially Penn. Most
interestingly, the film speaks to the question of directionality in
our lives.
Which is better: to start off well and decline, or to start off
poorly and improve? Scripture is full of examples of individuals
who began well with the Lord but then went bad and moved away from
him. II Chronicles 15-17, for example, recounts the reign of King
Asa of Judah, who started off well and made many reforms.
Eventually, however, Asa ceased to depend on the Lord and relied on
foreign alliances. The Lord became angry with him and afflicted him
with a disease of his feet. As the author, presumably Ezra, tells
us, “yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the
physicians.” In The Interpreter, the analogues of
Biblical characters like Asa are political leaders who begin as
reformers and bearers of light but end up corrupted.
On the Minus Side:
The plot is a little too clever and convoluted for its own good.
After we’ve spent two-thirds of the movie trying to figure out
what’s happening and deciding whom to root for, the film turns
things upside down and telescopes the resolution of the conflict
much too quickly. It reminded me of books by Jules Verne and other
authors who get their characters into situations they can’t easily
get them out of.
Beyond this, The Interpreter is a worldly movie that
extols the virtues of human efforts—i.e., works. No credit seems to
be given to God at all. Instead, Sylvia espouses the viewpoint that
the highest endeavor in life is to try to act morally and work for
good. Without the Lord’s guidance, however, little good will
ultimately be accomplished.
Bottom Line: Worth seeing, provocative in some ways.
Rating: 3 stars
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Index of movie
reviews...
(2003 reviews through present)
Jay Maurer, a member of West Side Presbyterian Church, is
a long-term movie buff and former college teacher of The Film as
Literature. He has written movie reviews for The Good News
(West Side newsletter) since 2002.
If you have comments or questions
about the movie (or play) reviews, please contact Jay at
dramachap@msn.com.
Ratings are expressed in
increments of ¼ star.
A rating of 2 ½ stars or higher is meant to be a recommendation.
1 star: poor
2 stars: minimally satisfactory
3 stars: quite good
4 stars: superb
Criteria for determining the ratings:
- Reflection, either explicit or implicit, of Christian values,
including suitability of language and lack of gratuitous violence
- Quality of the acting
- Originality
- Unity of the entire picture
- Substance, or in the words of C.S. Lewis, weight
Other Christian movie review Web sites:
Plugged In Online
ChristianityTodayMovies.com
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