‘The Interpreter’ elucidates distrust

PEGGY J. ROGERS

On the surface, “The Interpreter” is about preventing the

assassination of a foreign government leader visiting the United

Nations. At a deeper level, the suspense drama explores the social

and emotional choices people confront when senseless acts robs them

of people they love.

Loss of trust and its consequences is at the core of the film’s

every plot line: loss of trust in politicians, in government

protection agencies and in people in general. It is the result of

unexpected and sudden personal losses experienced by its leading

characters.

The plot to murder African leader Edmund Zuwanie on U.S. soil is

discovered by an interpreter (Silvia, played by Nicole Kidman) at the

United Nations. After Silvia reports the plot to federal agents, she

becomes a suspect in the conspiracy.

Once the feds reveal their distrust of Silvia, everything she does

is seen by the audience from the agents’ perspective. Once Silvia

realizes she is a suspect, not a witness, her ability to trust them

vanishes.

Federal Agent Tobin (Sean Penn), heads the task force to stop the

assassination, and has enough previous experience with witnesses to

justify his lack of trust in Silvia. Whether Tobin is correct about

her remains in play throughout the story. It is one of the stronger

and more entertaining plot lines in “The Interpreter.”

However, the two adversaries, Silvia and Tobin, discover they have

both experienced the senseless death of close family members. Tobin’s

loss is quite recent. The loss of Silvia’s family when she was a

child continues to affect her as an adult.

Talking about their grief is the common ground where trust begins

to develop and build between them. Tobin looks to Silvia to help him

cope and find a way to mourn yet move on.

Director Sydney Pollack (“The Firm,” “Out of Africa”) surrounds

the intimate journey of sorrow between Silvia and Tobin with plots

revolving around genocide and terrorism. “The Interpreter,” however,

skates along the edge of making a connection between genocide and

terrorists. The terrorists in the film are people whose lives and

families have been torn apart by acts of genocide. The message being

sent is that genocide breeds hate and revenge in an endless cycle of

death and grief. The terrorists exhibit the greatest loss of trust by

killing strangers or equals in the name of revenge.

Politics in movies can have the effect of bringing the nightly

news into the movie theater. If, however, political thrillers are

measured by how squeamish the audience becomes, then “The

Interpreter” ranks near the top. As a post-9/11 film, Pollack has

ingeniously weaved in plot lines throughout the tight security

measures in place at the United Nations. And yet, there is the

day-to-day detail that has the ability to undermine the best of

intentions.

Kidman and Penn are the best reasons for seeing “The Interpreter.”

Their ability to create real-life characters draws the audience in so

deep that by film’s end, they will be missed.

It is also an action-packed drama. Every scene reveals something

about the characters and/or moves the story forward.

“The Interpreter” is a good movie to take someone to so you can

ask for their interpretation of the film.

* PEGGY J. ROGERS, 40, produces commercial videos and

documentaries.

Don’t get “Hustle”-d

to go see this movie

“Kung Fu Hustle” bills itself as being “a new comedy unlike

anything you have seen before.” If only this were true. I have no

clue how this movie was deemed worthy of all of the hype it has

received. This is just another low budget, B-grade, martial arts

movie that normally wouldn’t be shown in most U.S. theaters.

Back in the mid ‘80s, the USA Network had a show on Sunday

mornings called, “Kung Fu Theater.” It featured really bad Chinese

martial arts movies with some completely absurd story lines. Thinking

about what I saw on that show makes me believe that somewhere in

China, people are watching a kung fu version of “Lord of the Rings.”

“Kung Fu Hustle” would have been a perfect fit for “Kung Fu

Theater.” There’s nothing in this movie that makes it worth seeing,

unless you really love terrible martial arts movies.

The story follows the formula of a town being attacked by

gangsters, and defended by kung fu masters. The gangsters are a group

known as the Ax Gang, who carry axes and have ax tattoos. When two

bumbling idiots come to town pretending to be gang members, it

creates the conflict that starts the war between the gang and the

town.

The fighting continues to escalate each time the gang hires new

kung fu hitmen to attack the town. There’s a lot of computer

animation to show new forms of kung fu that include loud scream fu

and Chinese autoharp fu. Most of the action and the jokes rely

completely on computer animation that’s not especially convincing.

The combination of the flashbacks, disjointed subplots and a lack

of a strong leading character makes “Kung Fu Hustle” feel

directionless and confused. Heroes and villains who become central to

the story come and go very quickly, leaving you wondering whose story

is being told.

The characters are two-dimensional good guys and bad guys, which

works just fine for slapstick comedy if the characters remain

predictable. These characters are so inconsistent that the movie

becomes a mess. Watching them triumph and stumble isn’t especially

funny.

To do a great kung fu comedy, the fight scenes have to be

spectacular. “Kung Fu Hustle” doesn’t have anyone in the cast who can

perform on the level of Jackie Chan. There’s no one with Chan’s

athleticism or charisma.

In movies like “Rumble in the Bronx,” Chan showed the ability to

combine the physical comedy of Harold Lloyd with the martial arts

mastery of Bruce Lee. There’s nothing in “Kung Fu Hustle” that comes

close to the dazzling moves that are the stock and trade of China’s

best martial arts movies.

I walked away from “Kung Fu Hustle” wondering how and why it was

deemed worthy of a wide release. If you spend any time at the Newport

Beach Film Festival, you’ll see that there are tons of terrific

movies just begging to be shown in theaters, most of which don’t have

a prayer of getting U.S. distribution.

* JIM ERWIN, 40, is a technical writer and computer trainer.