An assassination attempt on the foreign president of Matobo is overheard by Sylvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) who tells the Secret Service about what she heard. Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is assigned the task of keeping the Matoban president safe during his address to the United Nations. Keller also leads the investigation into finding out the truth, in the process he interviews Sylvia and cannot decide if she is a victim or a suspect in this case. This was also the final film directed by Sydney Pollack, who convinced the Secretary General to allow filming inside the U.N. for the first time. The language “Ku” spoken in the fictional country of Matobo was also created from scratch for this film; it is a cross between Swahili and Shona.
With the film juggling politics, racism, change and aloneness it is sporadic yet intriguing. With a little misdirection the film takes you along for a few twists and turns. Stalling briefly for a few scenes between Kidman and Penn’s characters which show they have very little chemistry together after the first couple scenes. Penn seems to be forcing his acting throughout the entire film mainly due to a very limiting script. Kidman on the other hand was strong showing the fear and strength of Sylvia’s character. The end has a few illogical moments that can’t be overlooked even using certain information that proves it could be possible. Clever films use seeds of little information early on only to bring it all together near the finale. This is a film that does that but not as well as it could have. But after the lacklustre ending drags on longer than it should we are left with a question. What was the point of all the themes early in the movie? Yes it juggled a lot of themes in the end but all it really shows us how much anything can change, in the span of 20 years or 20 days. With a few holes in the plot this film could have been cut down by about thirty minutes and been a great film, but with the longer run time and unnecessary subplots we are left with an average film filled with promise.
3 out of 5
Colin Enquist
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