The Interpreter Review

It must be difficult to weave a fictitious story into a plot so closely aligned to newspaper headlines, with corrupt African leaders, the United Nations and terrorism. International geopolitics offers enough strange, frustrating and/or tragic tales without needing to resort to fiction (Hotel Rwanda merely the first to mind).

Sidney Pollack does his best trying to inject a thriller mentality into a movie that is really a current affairs drama. As far as the formula goes, the movie works well enough. A white African interpreter at the UN overhears an assassination plot in a language only she and possibly eight other people in the Western Hemisphere can understand. The US Secret Service is called in, with more questions about the witness than answers about anyone else. The main actors, Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, are good in their roles without ever being convincing.

Involving the United Nations, being the first movie be shot within that First Avenue estate, may have seemed a great idea on paper, but on film the atmosphere dulls the senses, like minutae of so many Fifth Committee draft resolutions. The scenes away from the UN building are often more effective than those within it, particularly the Matoban President being driven through Manhattan, reminiscing on happier times. There is an excellent bus chase sequence which ramps up the tension markedly, but has minimal attachment to the main plot line.

Another idea that must have seemed good pre-production, of exploring the fissure between the United Nations and United States, also comes across as rehashing old arguments you may have seen on CNN. When Broome (Kidman) expresses her belief in the United Nations system, Keller (Penn) counters with ‘you’ve had a tough year’ - nothing new is being said.

Maybe an audience with minimal interest in the organization in question would better enjoy the twists and turns of the plot (or consider the political points peripheral). If you want to watch a good current affairs based movie, watch the Siege, scarily prescient for a 1998 production. As for The Interpreter, it satisfies while watching, but is strangely forgettable away from the cinema - effective, but not impressive.