192. Reality; movie review

 

REALITY

Cert 12A

82 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate threat

How damned refreshing. A movie where the audience is given the facts and the opportunity to make up its own mind.

Some will think that Reality Winner (that's her real name) was a spy who endangered the United States by passing on top-secret information.

Others will believe she performed a public service by revealing that the Russians interfered in the US elections.

The smartness of Tina Satter's dramatisation of her story is that it uses dialogue from FBI recordings, leaving out only small details for legal reasons.

Sydney Sweeney plays Reality - a Forces veteran employed as a translator by a contractor to the military.

She is met by two FBI agents (Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton) as she arrives at her home in a deprived district of Augusta, Georgia.

Initially, the conversations are light and a little bit awkward but gradually more officers arrive and it becomes clear that Reality is the focus of a high-level raid.

The most enticing scenes are those in which she faces the two in her sparse rear room and it begins to dawn on her that they know more about her than she could have dreamt.

Sweeney excels in the lead role, moving from innocence into grey areas seamlessly.

She also tantalises the viewer in the quiet way she introduces her character's deep intellect and knowledge after initially appearing to be very naive.

And, in what is essentially a three-hander, Davis and Hamilton smartly reflect the FBI's poker game, showing their cards only when they have to.

The movie has prompted me to read more about the case and it will certainly require further investigation to come to a final opinion.

But Satter's movie is a great foundation which is how journalism should be.

Reasons to watch: Stunning detail

Reasons to avoid: Background knowledge needed

Laughs: None

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Did you know? The Espionage Act was first enacted by Congress in 1917 shortly after the United States entered World War I. Under the law, individuals are prohibited from obtaining "any information related to the national defense with intent or reason to believe that the information may be used for the injury of the United States or to the advantage of any foreign nation."

The final word. Tina Satter: "I was kind of the cynical, jaded American artist. Like, ‘ugh – America’s humiliating, it’s all so terrible.’ But Reality was like, ‘We shouldn’t be being lied to – and I can see that it is wrong.’ " Independent

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