Nicole Kidman stars as Silvia Broome, a United Nations translator who hails from the fictional nation of Matobo, Africa. An expert in the obscure language of Ku, Silvia overhears a plot to kill the hated dictator of Matobo just days prior to his appearance before members of the UN. After reporting what she hears, “The Teacher will never leave this room alive,” Silvia’s life is turned inside out and upside down by the conspirators and by the federal agents, Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener), assigned to protect her. While on the surface it appears Silvia is simply an innocent bystander who just happened to overhear the would-be assassins, Keller has his doubts. Is Silvia a witness or is she somehow connected to the threat against the African head of state?
“The Interpreter” is a cat and mouse game with a few of the involved parties appearing to change sides throughout the process. The dialogue-heavy film forces you to pay close attention in order to keep up with the plot (go to the snack bar before the movie starts or you will miss a key detail). And while for the most part “The Interpreter” is engaging, it does have excruciatingly slow moments. The flow of the film is uneven and there are times when it seems information is either unnecessarily repeated, drawn out in too much detail, or what's feed to the audience turns out to be just downright illogical. Yet Kidman and Penn are impressive, nailing their characters and making the annoying slow moments and convoluted plot mostly tolerable.
After tossing out acting compliments to Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn, I do have one major complaint about Kidman's appearance in “The Interpreter” however it's something the Oscar-winning actress didn't have control over. I had a really difficult time paying attention to Kidman’s dialogue because of her mysteriously moving bangs. Once I started watching them, it was practically impossible to stop. In scenes with intense dialogue, the camera would focus first upon Kidman, then on whoever she was speaking to at the time, and back to Kidman. Almost half the time when the camera returned to Kidman’s face, her bangs were no longer covering one of her eyes. They’d been swept back further off of her face, a very obvious and distracting position change. It became so distracting that I had a hard time putting it out of my mind and focusing on the story. My eyes were continuously drawn to Kidman's bangs. I know this is nit-picking but the lack of continuity took me out of the film. Bangs should be a no-no in such an intensely dialogue-driven film.
As for the look of the film, much has been made of the fact Sydney Pollack was given permission to shoot inside the actual United Nations building. “The Interpreter” was the first movie to be granted access (even Alfred Hitchcock was denied permission when he wanted to film “North by Northwest” inside the sacred halls of the UN) and the atmosphere and vibe the actual United Nations building contributes to the film can’t be denied. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be at the center of power, “The Interpreter” makes you feel as though you are right there in the middle of the world’s decision makers.
While the film has all the makings of a solid story for adult audiences, there’s something too artificial about the set-up and about the main characters. The federal agents are inept, the movie tries to squeeze a lesson on forgiveness into the plot, and a lot of the supporting characters' actions are telegraphed so far in advance that when the action takes off, the thrill is muted.
“The Interpreter” looks nice and the acting is terrific, but that's just on the surface. Definitely not the absorbing thriller you can feel Pollack was aiming to produce, "The Interpreter" is good but ultimately forgettable.
Grade: B-
"The Interpreter" was directed by Sydney Pollack and is rated PG-13 for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language.
