By Matt Brunson
FAIR GAME
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DIRECTED BY Doug Liman
STARS Naomi Watts, Sean Penn
By now, it’s accepted by all but the most deluded Tea Party zealots that the insidious Bush administration took this country to war under false pretenses. There was a point when the vessel of justice could have been righted and a course for a better tomorrow could have been charted, but instead, lies were upheld, misinformation was spread like so much manure, and the moment was gone. Fair Game is a film about that moment.
Naomi Watts stars as Valerie Plame Wilson, the CIA operative whose undercover status was blown in retaliation for her husband Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) writing a New York Times op-ed piece in which he revealed that the justification for going to war with Iraq — that Saddam Hussein was building weapons of mass destruction — was a complete fabrication on the part of the war criminals in the White House. Fair Game tracks the lives of the Wilsons both professionally and personally, showing how the political fallout was placing a severe strain on their marriage.
The most fascinating element of this important picture is the philosophical difference that exists between the central characters. Joe is an idealist, honestly believing that he can take on the neocon thugs and win the battle. Valerie, meanwhile, is a realist, realizing the futility of any such efforts and initially preferring to keep her head down. It’s an interesting dichotomy, because while our hearts side with Joe, our minds know — and, more regrettably, our current history proves — that Valerie was right.
This article appears in Nov 16-22, 2010.
Mr. Brunson,
If you would actually put forth the effort to converse* with Tea Party adherents, you’d find out that a substantial number of them are, and have been, entirely opposed to the Iraq war, and while initially supportive of the hunt for OBL in Afghanistan, recognized far earlier than the rest of the country that the Afghan operation has nothing to do with OBL and everything to do with imperialistic hegemony that crosses party lines.
I assume you know (who am I kidding – I know that you DON’T know) that the word “neocon” literally means “NEW conservative”, and that many of the prominent ones are warmongering former DEMOCRATS frustrated by grassroots Democratic opposition to LBJ’s Vietnam War. You may recognize the names of these campaign officials working for Democrat Scoop Jackson’s 1972 and 1976 presidential bids: Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith, and Richard Perle.
* I actually met you, briefly, at a party about 15 years ago, and it was easy to understand why you chose to work in a field where you simply sit in the dark without the need to engage others.
JQP (aka Voldemort, aka Obamessiah): Pray tell, which party would that be? Since you’re too gutless to ever use your real name on here, I can neither confirm nor deny your claim. As for me not engaging others, well, I’m sure my fiancee (among many other folks) will be surprised to learn that.
Amusingly, you state we only met “briefly.” I imagine it’s because I instantly recognized you as an insufferable jerk and solely didn’t want to engage with YOU. Because based on your posts here (especially the misogynistic ones targeting Rhiannon Bowman), you’re the humorless, perpetually angry sort who should be avoided.
Thanks for writing!
P.S. I HAVE spoken to Tea Party adherents, including a couple who are MY OWN relatives. Interestingly, they didn’t bring up the Iraq war, preferring instead to spend all their time railing against that fascist/Communist/Socialist Obama and how he’s an anti-American Muslim and wants to destroy this country and blah blah blah. Interesting to learn that you’re cut from the same cloth as these informed citizens.
Cheers!
^This^ humors me a great deal.
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I read mostly positive reviews for Fair Game, but I can not convince myself that viewing it will be any more enlightening than reading dozens of news articles & commentary pieces on the matter. I’ve already done the latter.
“Based on True Events” films are often painful to watch. Damn those 3 stars for giving me such conflicting feelings on how to spend a Saturday afternoon of so-so college football! To the theatre, I guess. . .
Hi, Konstantin. I know what you mean. Political movies are what I like to call “preaching to the choir” films. You probably won’t get any conservative moviegoers to see Fair Game any more than you would get any liberal viewers to check out something called, say, Glenn Beck and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So I guess it just comes down to the targeted audiences trying to ascertain which of these films are lame (e.g. Rendition, Lions for Lambs, Green Zone) and which are worthy (No End In Sight, the underrated Body of Lies, Fair Game).
Ta.