The Interpreter

Plot synopsis:
Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an interpreter working at the United Nations in New York City. She was raised in the Republic of Matobo, a fictional African country, but has dual citizenship. The U.N. is considering indicting Edmond Zuwanie (Earl Cameron), Matobo's president, to stand trial in the International Criminal Court. Initially a liberator, over the past 20 years he has become as corrupt and tyrannical as the government he overthrew, and is now responsible for ethnic cleansing and other atrocities within Matobo. Zuwanie is soon to visit the U.N. and put forward his own case to the General Assembly, in an attempt to avoid the indictment.
A security scare forces the evacuation of the U.N. building, and, as Silvia returns at night to reclaim some personal belongings, she overhears two men discussing an assassination plot in Ku (an East-Africa dialect she understands). Silvia runs from the building when those discussing the plot become aware of her presence. The next day, Silvia recognizes words in a meeting, where she is interpreting, from phrases she overheard the night before, and reports the incident to U.N. security; the plot's target appears to be Zuwanie himself. They, in turn, call in the U.S. Secret Service, who assign Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener) to investigate, as well as protect Zuwanie when he arrives. Keller, whose estranged wife was accidentally killed just days earlier, learns that Silvia has, in the past, been involved in a Matoban guerrilla group, that her parents and sister were killed by land mines laid by Zuwanie's men, and that she has dated one of Zuwanie's political opponents. Although Keller is suspicious of Silvia's story, the two grow close, in part because of their shared grief, and Keller ends up protecting her from attacks on her person. Silvia later finds that her brother Simon and her lover Xola were killed (as shown in the opening scene).
The purported assassin is discovered (and shot to death) while Zuwanie is in the middle of his address to the General Assembly, and security personnel rush Zuwanie to a safe room for his protection. Silvia, anticipating this, has been hiding in the safe room, and confronts Zuwanie and intends to kill him herself. Keller determines that the assassination plot is a false flag operation created by Zuwanie to gain credibility that his rivals are terrorists and to deter potential supporters of his removal. Keller rushes to the safe room and arrives just in time to prevent Silvia from murdering Zuwanie. Zuwanie is indicted, and Silvia is expelled from the U.S., returning home to Matobo soon afterwards.

Tags: suspenseful, mystery, murder, violence, intrigue, flashback, action, revenge, storytelling

Review:
Speaking of characters, I love the understated performances in this film by Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman.
I love also the moments in this film, such as when Penn's character in a country-western bar unplugs the jukebox to stop the noise of some country-pop crap then restarts it in order to play Lyle Lovett's wonderful "If I Had a Boat" then goes to a pay phone and calls his own house just to hear his wife's voice on the answering machine.Also, while I have nothing against fast, action-adventure-cartoon-type violence when it's done just right.
Sean Penn is also a good actor, and both do a great job in the movie.Unfortunately the good acting can't overcome the weak script.
I had the chance to see this film yesterday at its world opening in Athens,Greece."The interpreter" is a political thriller directed by one of the most suitable filmmakers for this,Sydney Pollack.
Nicole Kidman plays the role of a South African-born UN translator who overhears an assassination threat against the dictator of an African country.Sean Penn plays the role of a Secret Service agent,assigned to investigate the case.Soon we find out that the interpreter's past could explain her possible involvement in the conspiracy.So-maybe-not everything is exactly as it seems to be.
Entry to the United Nations headquarters in New York (and being directed by Sydney Pollack) was enough to make Nicole Kidman sign up for this enjoyable, if not a little formulaic, political thriller.
Having seen "Mystic River" recently, I was awaiting Sean Penn's next movie with great anticipation as he is one brilliant actor, and when I heard Nicole Kidman was to be his co-star, this was well worth waiting for, and both of them are superb in a very well-constructed movie, with great location shooting in New York.
First of all, it would seem impossible to go wrong with this: you have Sydney Pollack at the helm, the blessings from the United Nations to actually shoot INSIDE the UN building itself (with several key scenes taking place in the general assembly room), all shot on location in the Big Apple, and to top it all off you have the best actress and actor of their generation in the lead!
Just like he did with other thrillers like the masterful "Three Days of the Condor" and the entertaining "The Firm." I'm not saying "The Interpreter" is on level with those two, but it *is* an entertaining and thrilling two hours (especially a scene involving a bus is quite tense).In the end I was really left with just one quibble: as things developed the ending really came as no big surprise.
Still, that said: it's a political thriller directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
The acting talent, clever though predictable plot, superior production and cinematography, and fearlessly quirky script are what makes this film work, despite a few rather absurd plot points.Kidman unsurprisingly, dominates the screen with a powerful portrayal of a young South African translator for the UN, who overhears a plot to assassinate the genocidal president of her home country, Motambo.
Being from Africa, I found it highly annoying that they decided to use a fake country name (which of course not a lot of people would know!).The general idea was great and I love NIcole Kidman, and I was really looking forward to watch this movie.
I must I say I really like movies like this and I was furthermore enthusiastic that Nicole Kidman was starring in that film along with Sean Penn!
There are many things that are just not well thought out here, and the whole suffers as a result.Penn is great as always, Kidman does a lot with her character, but often they're wandering through the scenes in a story that doesn't seem to know where to go next.
At times, you think the movie is going to take an interesting turn, but all that happens is that more unnecessary characters and events are introduced in a lame attempt to confuse the audience and make them forget that they've just wasted nearly two hours of their lives.
Directed by Sydney Pollack and having Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn and Catherine Keener in the cast, I thought that it would certainly be a great political thriller.
The story kicks off as United Nations African interpreter Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) was gathering personal apparatuses when she overhears a plot to have her country's president assassinated in which involves a visit from an African dignitary.
With the assistance of a wonderful script by Martin Stellman and Brian Ward, Penn and Kidman could still turn an average film into something provocative and through the direction of Pollack, this mediocre thriller has enough spark to keep the thriller aficionado enlightened but never insulted.With the remarkable cinematography under Darius Khondji, "The Interpreter" is pure eye candy along with all the other parts of the anatomy that will have you tingling with excitement.
The complexity and the chaos unfolds as the plot gains momentum and, as a result, you have a pretty neat political thriller that gives the audience a somewhat inside look at the United Nations, the power it possesses and the potential abuse of power it could unleash.Overall, it's not a bad movie.
Sylvia Broom (Nicole Kidman) an interpreter at the UN overhears someone giving a threat for the assassination to an African dictator .Her only problem is the person who i trying to protect her, Tobin Kellar (Sean Penn) believes that she made the whole story up and that she was trying to get attention.This Drama,Action and thriller is different to many other of Nicole's precious movies but will be remembered for ever.
When watching a Pollack film, the only thing that infects us is a nagging sense of a story getting bogged down in straight back-and-forth staging of dialogue, dry exposition and general listlessness.The Interpreter could use an injection of energy not to mention a more convincing plot.
The story details what happens when U.N. interpreter Nicole Kidman (looking jaundiced) claims to have overheard a foreign dignitary being threatened, and Secret Service agent Sean Penn (his head resembling a giant red cabbage) is brought in to determine the veracity of her story.
And if you're looking for a little spark from the dialogue you can forget it - it's mostly flat exposition, nothing that would goose the scenes with bits of innuendo or humor.The movie is straight to the point of stodginess with one exception - the out-and-out bizarre performance of Nicole Kidman as the ex-militant who has come to believe in the apparatus of diplomacy.
Pollack tries to drag his movie up out of suspense-film irrelevance by showing how much his characters care about humanity, but instead of raising the stakes on the story, this approach only further unbalances what is already a top-heavy endeavor.
I respect Pollack, I really admire Sean Penn's work and Nicole Kidman is always adequate at the least, but what with all that high class names involved you would think the final result just had to be better than this..well...
Good acting all around but the movie did not allow me to care about the two main characters played by Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.
The movie starts out adequately, setting the background of human rights abuses in the African state and the work of the translator in the UN HQ in New York - supposedly a haven of rational debate, but potentially a place of danger for Kidman's character Sylvia Broome when she hears something she shouldn't have.
"The interpreter" is no masterpiece, but this plot involving the Secret Service of the USA, the UN, and some African war lords is quite entertaining and it's been filmed such elegantly.I wonder if it wouldn't have been much better to choose another actress to play the ex-guerrilla character.
This movie has so many flaws I don't even know where to begin.First of all, let's talk about the chemistry between Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman.
I've seen Richard Simmons infomercials that would look like Hitchcock compared to this movie.I'm guessing that the United Nations regrets allowing Pollack and company to film in their building.
I had the opportunity to watch the movie here in Greece, where for some reason,it came out in the theaters two weeks before it does in USA.In general"The Interpreter" was an interesting movie, as one would expect given the undisputed talent of the cast(Kidman,Penn) and the experience of the director(Pollack).I particularly enjoyed the scenes that were shot inside the UN building and really added an new element to the story.Furthermore,the music of the film composed by James Newton-Howard is superb.Nevertheless,the movie lacks that "something" that would make it a great political thriller like "The Manchurian Candidate".
The story is interesting,the performances by Kidman and Penn noticeable but the movie leaves you feeling that something is missing...In any case,you will spend a couple of hours pleasantly and also get a little bit of insight about the role of the UN..
Realizing the danger she may be in, she tries to go to the embassy to protect her, but only federal agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is convinced by her story to protect her and help her solve the mystery behind the death threats.For the most part, The Interpreter is a harmless thriller with some solid acting and nice twists.
Nicole Kidman just can't act, her African accent is appalling and while I'm sure she has die hard fans who love her for things 'other' than her acting, in this film she looks unconvincing and only adds the the movies overall monotony; bless her though  off screen, she does seem like an honestly "nice" and down to earth kind of girl.This film has been done so many times before, there's no twists, no turns, no surprises.
But these are so masterfully woven into the film as mere backdrop to the real story here: the humanity and interaction, and just maybe the eventual redemption, of the two lead characters, played by Penn and Kidman.Much has been made of the use of the actual UN for the UN scenes.
I've seen this movie and, as i'd expected, it turned out to be one of those movies that you will always remember for the rest of your life, because it has Nicole Kidman, a brilliant actress with a role that doesn't look easy, because of the accent and the difficulty of becoming the UN Interpreter, and Sean Penn, who plays the fantastic role of a Security agent that tries to save the life of Silvia Broome and President Zuwanie at the same time.
In Sydney Pollack's The Interpreter, Nicole Kidman as a UN translator specializing in a minor African language unfortunately overhears some bad guys plotting in that tongue to assassinate a deserving African dictator.
But they are better." Pollack wants his screenplay to have equal time with his visual and to discuss the tension between verbal and gun diplomacy.Sean Penn is the Secret Service agent assigned to figure out if Kidman is telling the truth, to stop the plot, and to protect her.
Even if you don't like slick, formulaic thrillers, you might see The Interpreter because it is the first feature allowed to film inside the real UN or because Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman do the getting-to-know-you routine with an effective minimalism foreign to today's show-all romances.
This emotional, action packed Hollywood blockbuster explodes into cinemas across the United Kingdom this weekend with overwhelming support from movie fans.From the critically acclaimed director, Sydney Pollack, has created a controversial and deeply moving film about the politics of the international community.As the world embraces it self with the war on terror, this new film rises up against the critics and tells a brave story about an attractive UN interpreter, Silvia Broome (Kidman) overhearing an assassination plot against the dictatorial ruler of the fictional African state of Matobo.Silvia eventually tells the security forces of her plight and demands extra security as she fears she was seen and wonders whether her African background could make her a target.
Both actors won Oscars at this year's academy awards and should be noticed for their breathtaking performances as their talent overshadowed the complex script.However I was a little disappointed by the dramatic ending, there were too many comparisons with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe; this may have been America's attempt at telling the world the dangers of dictatorial rule, a stern lesson from the world's most powerful country.So, this is a high budget movie about the complexities of international politics combined with the seedy, underworld of the secret service attempting to protect a pretty blonde determined to punish her parent's killer.This is a movie not for the restless or energetic as patience and intelligence is needed to understand the gripping plot..
I had the chance to see this movie because I work with translation and subtitles in Sweden and I would like say something about it.Nicole Kidman stars as African-born U.N. interpreter Silvia Broome, who by mistake overhears a death threat against an African head of state scheduled to address the United Nation's General Assembly.
Not exactly stellar stuff.This film's awfully enticing premise: Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman), a U.N. interpreter, overhears a plot to assassinate a brutal African leader who just happens to lead Silvia's native country and someone she once admired.
The InterpreterThe United Nations is very much at the forefront as this movie is released, with a potential major overhaul on the agenda, so what could be a standard (if very well made) thriller has an extra edge, due in no small part to the excellent acting talents of the wonderful Nicole Kidman and (to an only slightly lesser extent) Sean Penn.The film opens in a fictitious African country - one of those with an African-sounding name where the ruler is enlisting the help of children to tote weapons and massacre people while covering up the ethnic cleansing by calling it a response to terrorists.Back in the United Nations, the once-beneficent, now-murderous leader and his forsaken country are being hotly debated, but the news comes that he plans to come to the UN and exercise a right to address them.
Nicole Kidman is a UN interpreter who overhears what she says is a plot to assassinate him when he does - she's also spotted when she overhears and so becomes a target.The following action keeps the suspense going for well over two hours, with Kidman in a love-hate relationship with Secret Service agent Sean Penn.
It is a pity to see Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman fighting with bad script and actually not knowing what to do with their characters.
Moreover Sean Penn's character is so typical of these sort of Hollywood movies - a cop with a family/wife problem, you just cannot miss what is to come between he and Nicole Kidman.
Nicole Kidman- while looking the best she has in a long time- put on a shocking performance with one of the worst accents I have ever heard her do.The script writing was a shocker, with Sean Penn delivering some of the corniest lines I have heard since I watched 'Disturbing Behaviour' some years ago.
It's nothing new and the story/script is a little weak, but the acting is incredibly strong and the film itself is very engaging and interesting to say the least.Sydney Pollack's film is about a U.N interpreter from Africa, Silvia who overhears a plot to assassinate the president of Matobo.
This was a very intriguing movie, the dialogue between Silvia (Nicole Kidman) and Tobin (Sean Penn) was brilliant throughout.
has everything going for it, great cast, interesting storyline, decent script, location, location, location but I don't understand one major flaw - the editing of Nicole Kidman and her hairdo, or lack of, it didn't make any sense, her hair flopped in her eyes, cut to Sean Penn, back to Nicole, hair off her forehead - this may seem a minor detail but Sydney Pollack usually watches for these little discrepancies.Overall it's an interesting film and well done, good political thriller, but it lacks a certain courage to make it a really GREAT film.
30 years after the thriller masterpiece "The three days of the Condor", Pollack tells a story about a UN interpreter (Nicole Kidman) who intercepts a secret conversation about a future killing -apparently there's a plan to kill the president of the African state she's citizen of.
Policemen and secret agents look for potential assassins inside and outside the UN headquarter in New York, while Kidman is in a room of the same building alone with her prisoner...!I also think that the personal drama of Sean Penn's character has no connection with the story.
Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn....U would think, if nothing else this movie should be a ringer for the 2 good actors.But, it wasn't.The story line plot old and haggard.Political thriller?
So after the first hour of the movie I kept asking myself why Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn are in this suspenseful, detective, who done it.
She is a great actress and wonderfully beautiful, but some other actress should have been cast, not Kidman.I thought Sean Penn did a good job, but I couldn't figure out why he was in this movie after the first hour.
***** The Interpreter (2005) Sydney Pollack ~ Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener.
Just seeing the inside of the U.N. Building for the first time since I moved from NYC would have made the film worth the price of admission for me, so I was pleasantly surprised when this story of a South African interpreter (Nicole Kidman) embroiled in an assassination plot when she overhears the wrong thing at the wrong time turned out to be a suspenseful, thought-provoking, character driven thriller that builds up a nice head of paranoia.
This film is filled with Oscar winners, from the Director Sydney Pollack, to the two main leads in Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn.