REVIEW: Fair Game (2)

TRUTH OR DARE

It's interesting to note that two films released on the same day, speak about subversion of truth and falsification of evidence. The first, No One Killed Jessica, is about an individual story, but also a reminder of the extent to which corruption has eaten into our moral fibre. The second, Doug Liman's Fair Game, is about the dishonest premise under which the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq in 2003 and its determination to eliminate anyone who tried to speak the truth, in this case,  former Ambassador Joseph Wilson (Sean Penn) and his CIA operative wife, Valerie Palme (Naomi Watts).

The difference then, lies between the actual courage displayed by both filmmakers in telling their stories. While Gupta melds fact and fiction into a strange, unconvincing concoction, Liman names all the players in the game by their names -- George W Bush, Dick Cheney, Saddam Hussain and so on. Of course, it may be argued, Bush-bashing is in vogue these days, particularly in the movies, and hence it wouldn't have been difficult to spell it out.

Caught in the throes of America's inexplicable decision to attack Iraq under the premise of Saddam's supposed Weapons of Mass Destruction programme, are Valerie and Joseph, both honest, hardworking citizens who have devoted their lives to serve a nation in whose values they have absolute faith.

Valerie is a no-nonsense CIA covert operative who travels the world undercover to extract valuable information from various sources. Joe, a former ambassador to Niger, is asked by Valerie's office to check on a huge sale of uranium by the Niger government to Saddam, presumably for building WMDs. Joe's report suggests there was no such deal. But someone high up in the US government doesn't want to accept that answer and decides to fudge facts and arrive and the answer Vice-President Cheney really wants to hear.

Iraq is invaded and in his state of the Union address, President Bush mentions intelligence to the effect that Niger did in fact make the sale to Iraq. Joe knows this can't be true and dashes off a piece in the New York Times questioning this assumption. Which, at a time when the nation is firmly in the grip of terror in the aftermath of 9/11, is enough for the media and the public to lambast the former ambassador for being an enemy of the state. 

In an act of vindictiveness, Valerie's cover is blown and the chain of events that follow, leads to not just her being discredited and being dismissed as a mere lowly secretary, but also to a near breakdown of their marriage. Worse, her attempts to rescue a group of nuclear scientists from Iraq are thwarted as a result of her suspension and several other live ops are jeopardised.

Back in the innocent '90s, this plot would have been the subject of a purely fictional thriller about an honest agent's fight against corruption in high places. But in the world we live in, fact truly is stranger than fiction.

Liman manages to keep the action engaging without resorting to gimmicks. The relationship between the husband and wife is delicately delineated and their struggle to cope with the betrayal seems achingly real. Energetic and heartfelt performances by the lead pair and a narrative strongly driven by human drama makes Fair Game an engaging weekend watch.