For as long as men have divided themselves along any arbitrary lines that may
have conceived there have been wars. And as thunder follows lightning one
side would attempt to infiltrate the other an attempt to find weaknesses that
may be exploited; spies. In the aftermath of the red menace care of the 50s that
led to the Cold War of the 60s espionage thrillers have continued to dominate
all forms of entertainment including literature, cinema and television. The most
popular form of this subgenre depicts the highly trained spy with the most
futuristic gadgets conceivable. Are these is certainly thrilling and quite
entertaining they are however far removed from the realities faced by real
espionage agents. ‘Fair Game’, is based on a real-life memoirs by Valerie Plame
Wilson, ‘Fair Game: My Life as a Spy, My Betrayal by the White House’ and the
autobiographical companion piece by her husband, Joseph C. Wilson, ‘The Politics
of Truth: Inside the Lies that Led to War and Betrayed My Wife's CIA Identity: A
Diplomat's Memoir’. Ambassador Wilson was not only a highly ranked diplomat he
served President George H. W. Bush as the Special Assistant and NSC Senior
Director for African Affairs. Between 1985 and 2006, Mrs. Wilson was an
operative for the Central intelligence Administration, and the more common
parlance, the spy for the CIA. On 14 July 2003 the covert function was revealed
in an article by the Washington Post utilizing information made available by
Richard Armitage at the US State Department. This immediately destroyed your
effectiveness and wound her career with the agency. This is also a scandal that
dominated even the usually short-lived new cycle of cable news for in an
inordinate amount of time. Most spy thrillers contain the subplot of the agent
frantically trying to avoid being revealed by the enemy but in this instance
eradicating the career of an effective agent was done by people within our own
government. The film on the consideration here is concerned with these facts and
would go on to bring an honor bestowed by the National Board of Review; ‘Freedom
of Expression Award"’.
Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts) has been employed by the CIA as an intelligence
officer frequently assigned to operations overseas. One point where the
fantasies of movies overlap with reality is the very real danger that she would
face if identity and assignments were made known. To help prevent this aside
from the handler in the agency the only one who knew her true identity was her
family. Her husband, Joseph (Sean Penn), was the US ambassador to Gabon. This
degree of diplomatic access gave Wilson the ability to easily obtain information
crucial to the machinations of the CIA. The agency wanted Wilson to gather
information that would make it possible to more accurately ascertain whether or
not the kind who is producing yellowcake uranium, a critical step in
constructing a nuclear weapon. If such material was born into the wrong hands,
i.e., Iraq, the results would be devastating arming terrorists. Upon his
examination Wilson concluded that no such program was currently active.
Despite these negative findings Pres. George W. Bush ordered a military
action to be launched against the Iraq. In his 2003 state of the union address
President Bush cited an enriched uranium program, sparking a national
controversy. This led to Ms. Palmer’s involvement with the CIA to be publicly
revealed not only destroying efficacy as an operative but placing her and her
family. In an attempt to defuse the situation Wilson submits the op-ed piece for
the New York Times denouncing the allegations as completely untrue. Public
outrage ensued when Palmer’s status as a CIA operative was blown. It appeared
that the leak that destroyed her career and threatened her life was made by
someone within the White House staff. This threatened the effectiveness and
lives of many operatives still in place. Understandably this placed them
marriage and exceptional strain and when Wilson consented to print and
television interviews the strain on the marriage becomes too great and she
leaves her husband. During all of this the vice president’s Chief of Staff,
Scooter Libby (David Andrews). As things escalate Palmer’s call to testify
before congressional committee convened to sort out the mess. She is sentenced
to a 30 month sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice which was then
commuted by President Bush’s executive order.
There is little in this film that would be recognizable by the diehard fans
of spy thrillers. No salacious sexual encounters with enemy agents no car chases
vehicles on the Army like an attack tank or clever devices meticulously designed
to neutralize enemy threats. The content of this film is far more frightening
that the lives of people risk closure and potential death on a regular basis can
be so easily that such a threat to their covert identities can come from people
highly placed in the government they willingly serve. Making matters worse for
many Americans is that at the core of this affair is that the administration was
scrambling to justify their invasion of Iraq. Many Americans felt that there was
no justification after the tragic events of 9/11 on the incursion into that
country. The crucial issues that came to the public eye and what he did the
debated were greatly exacerbated by the inclusion of other debates of
fundamental rights. It was Chicago Sun-Times columnist Robert Novak who made
public the fact that Wilson, a member of the American diplomatic corps in Niger,
was married to a CIA operative was been issued her own directives. When the
Administration was unable to justify military action sales of uranium that
proved to be completely fallacious this whole debacle comes down to them trying
to save face in front of the public. Ultimately this not only disclosed the
identity of many of the operatives but it resulted in the execution of several
of them
Within the context of the film both Wilson and Plame are consistently
depicted as loyal Americans working with honest intent to serve and protect
their country. They also depicted as having a very strong and loving marriage
despite the unusual circumstances that are infusing its very fabric. The
audience has no reason to think any of the terms while experiencing the story.
Naomi Watts has been a consistently strong artist for many years, twice
nominated for ‘Best Performance Is a Leading Actress’ by the Academy Awards. To
hear her speak in interviews you cannot help but come to the conclusion that
this is a woman who cares about her crafts and how it is involved with the
social issues of the day. In this movie, like so many others she’s appeared in,
owns the depiction of her character. Indubitably the strength of this movie is
derived from the very personal context of the situations. There is no sword of
Damocles in the form of stolen nuclear weapons, no ticking clock counting down a
madman’s doomsday plot. What drives this film is the need to justify actions
that led to military action on foreign soil where our soldiers four and died.
Decisions were made the heat of the moment following the tragedy of 9/11 but as
cooler heads managed to prevail, those responsible for the decisions call to
justify them. Valerie Plame and her husband found their career and relationships
falling victim not to some idealistic goal for but rather for the basic need for
spin control. The director of this movie, Doug Liman, as had a few eclectic
films to his name but is mostly known for television series including a few in
the espionage vein; ‘Covert Affairs’, is significant part of the cinematic
‘Bourne’ franchise. The man obviously knows what Hollywood and the fans demand
from a spy movie but this film proves that he can step back from the fiction and
demonstrate how real events can be much more frightening than those that come
from the mind of a screenwriter. The bonus for this film is quite remarkable and
should be heard; and audio commentary with Valerie Plame Wilson and Joe Wilson.