The Interpreter (2005)

Director: Sydney Pollack

Overview[]

Everything revolves around a possible plot to assassinate Zuwaine, the dictatorial president of a fictional African republic. The investigations by US intelligence begin with a complaint from Silvia (Kidman), a United Nations (UN) interpreter who accidentally overhears whispers about the conspiracy.

Summary[]

In the fictional Southern African country of Matobo, rebel leader Ajene Xola drives two men, Simon Broome and Philippe, to an abandoned stadium. They discuss how President Edmond Zuwanie's regime has ruthlessly exterminated most of the population and intimidated the survivors into silence. Upon their arrival at the stadium, they find three schoolboys, who point Xola and Simon in the direction of corpses left by Zuwanie's security apparatus, while Philippe stays in the car. When Xola and Simon return to the playing field, they are executed by the boys who are accomplices of Zuwanie's secret police. Philippe clambers out of the car and hides, taking pictures of a car arriving carrying Zuwanie's lackeys, and then escapes.

Simon's sister, Silvia, works at the United Nations Interpretation Service in New York. A white African born in the United States to a British mother and white Matoban father, she was raised in Matobo and studied in France. Her diverse background leads to UN Security Chief Lee Wu wryly describing her as "being the UN". The UN is considering indicting Zuwanie, 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. Zuwanie is soon to visit the UN and put forward his own case to the UN General Assembly, in an attempt to avoid the indictment.

A random security scare forces the evacuation of the UN headquarters. When Silvia returns at night to reclaim some personal belongings, she overhears two men discussing an assassination plot in Ku (the Matoban lingua franca). Silvia runs from the building when the men 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 UN security; the plot's target appears to be Zuwanie.

The US Secret Service assigns Dignitary Protection Division (DPD) agents Tobin Keller and Dot Woods to investigate, as well as protect Zuwanie when he arrives. Zuwanie's personal head of security, former Dutch mercenary Nils Lud, arrives in New York. Keller, whose estranged wife was killed in a car accident just weeks earlier, learns Sylvia's parents and sister were killed by landmines laid by Zuwanie's men in the past, and that she has dated Xola. Although Keller is suspicious of Silvia's backstory, the two grow close, in part because of their shared grief, and Keller ends up protecting her from attacks.

Philippe calls Silvia to meet and informs her of Xola's death, but lies and says he doesn't know what happened to Simon. Silvia attempts to obtain information by way of Kuman-Kuman, an exiled Matoban minister living in New York, only to almost be killed in a bus bombing perpetrated by Lud's right-hand man, Jean Gamba; Kuman-Kuman, along with a DPD agent, are amongst the dead. The media report that Xola – who no one knows Zuwanie has already had assassinated – is behind the bombing.

Philippe is found dead in his hotel room, and Silvia finds out that Simon was killed along with Xola. She narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by Gamba (whom Keller kills) and leaves a voicemail on Keller's phone saying she's going back home. Keller takes this to mean she's returning to Matobo and dispatches an agent to intercept her at JFK Airport.

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 supporters of his removal. Keller realizes that Silvia returning home means going to the UN, and rushes to the safe room, just in time to prevent her from murdering Zuwanie. Zuwanie is indicted, and Silvia reconciles with Keller before leaving for Matobo.

Quotes[]

Silvia Broome : Everyone who loses somebody wants revenge on someone, on God if they can't find anyone else. But in Africa, in Matobo, the Ku believe that the only way to end grief is to save a life. If someone is murdered, a year of mourning ends with a ritual that we call the Drowning Man Trial. There's an all-night party beside a river. At dawn, the killer is put in a boat. He's taken out on the water and he's dropped. He's bound so that he can't swim. The family of the dead then has to make a choice. They can let him drown or they can swim out and save him. The Ku believe that if the family lets the killer drown, they'll have justice but spend the rest of their lives in mourning. But if they save him, if they admit that life isn't always just... that very act can take away their sorrow.
Silvia Broome : Vengeance is a lazy form of grief.
Silvia Broome : Any leads? Tobin Keller : Maybe one. Come on down to Mexico. [hands her a picture of a rally, her face can be seen among the crowd] Tobin Keller : Is that you? Can you tell me what somebody like you, who uses the word "diplomacy", like she's chastising me, is doing at a rebel rally? Silvia Broome : A peace rally. Tobin Keller : I don't want to do this again! Silvia Broome : That's exactly what it is. What I am doing is listening. Tobin Keller : After that, after you listen. Silvia Broome : You're asking the wrong question. Tobin Keller : I'm asking you the question you don't want to answer. Silvia Broome : Why would somebody take a picture and type the names of everyone in it on the back. This is a death list. The question you should be asking is "who gave me this?" and "why?"
Silvia Broome : [When Silvia has been hooked up to the polygraph machine] When will I know the results? Tobin Keller : Straight away. You know when you're lying don't you?
Silvia Broome : Listen, I'm scared, and my protector is some one who doesn't believe me. Tobin Keller : You don't look scared... Silvia Broome : People handle fear in different ways, Mr. Keller. It turns some people into stand up comedians. You don't know me at all. Maybe I should talk to someone else about assigning someone to look after me who's better suited to the job. Tobin Keller : My job is not to look after you, it's to look after the man who's been threatened, if there was a threat. My job, as it concerns you, is to investigate you. Silvia Broome : So you're not here to offer me any protection whatsoever? Tobin Keller : No, Ma'am. Silvia Broome : [handing him back his card] And we were getting along so well.
Silvia Broome : We don't name the dead.
Silvia Broome : Peace, security and freedom are not finite commodities like land, oil or gold, which one state can acquire at another's expense.

Silvia Broome : Any leads? Tobin Keller : Maybe one. Come on down to Mexico. [hands her a picture of a rally, her face can be seen among the crowd] Tobin Keller : Is that you? Can you tell me what somebody like you, who uses the word "diplomacy", like she's chastising me, is doing at a rebel rally? Silvia Broome : A peace rally. Tobin Keller : I don't want to do this again! Silvia Broome : That's exactly what it is. What I am doing is listening. Tobin Keller : After that, after you listen. Silvia Broome : You're asking the wrong question. Tobin Keller : I'm asking you the question you don't want to answer. Silvia Broome : Why would somebody take a picture and type the names of everyone in it on the back. This is a death list. The question you should be asking is "who gave me this?" and "why?"
Silvia Broome : [When Silvia has been hooked up to the polygraph machine] When will I know the results? Tobin Keller : Straight away. You know when you're lying don't you?
Silvia Broome : Listen, I'm scared, and my protector is some one who doesn't believe me. Tobin Keller : You don't look scared... Silvia Broome : People handle fear in different ways, Mr. Keller. It turns some people into stand up comedians. You don't know me at all. Maybe I should talk to someone else about assigning someone to look after me who's better suited to the job. Tobin Keller : My job is not to look after you, it's to look after the man who's been threatened, if there was a threat. My job, as it concerns you, is to investigate you. Silvia Broome : So you're not here to offer me any protection whatsoever? Tobin Keller : No, Ma'am. Silvia Broome : [handing him back his card] And we were getting along so well.
Silvia Broome : What do you do when you can't sleep? Tobin Keller : I stay awake
Silvia Broome : Do you think I'm making it up? Why would I report a threat I didn't hear? Tobin Keller : People do. Silvia Broome : I don't. Tobin Keller : Some people like attention. Silvia Broome : I don't! Tobin Keller : Maybe you don't want Zuwanie at the U.N. Silvia Broome : I didn't make it up. Tobin Keller : How do you feel about him? Silvia Broome : I don't care for him. Tobin Keller : Wouldn't mind if he were dead? Silvia Broome : I wouldn't mind if he were gone. Tobin Keller : Same thing. Silvia Broome : No, it isn't. If I interpreted gone as dead I'd be out of a job, if dead and gone were the same thing there'd be no UN. Tobin Keller : Your profession is playing with words Ms. Broome. Silvia Broome : I don't play with words. Tobin Keller : You're doing it right now. Silvia Broome : No, you are. If I wanted him dead, I wouldn't have reported it. I would sit back and let it happen. That's not what I want, that's not why I'm here.
Tobin Keller : You think that not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth.
Tobin Keller : I'd rather make the mistake of believing her, than the bigger one of not.

Dot Woods : [working security during a lap dance in a strip club] Ma'am, ma'am, excuse me, please don't touch the Prime Minister. I need you to step back, please.
Dot Woods : Secret Service. UN Security Guard : Just a moment please. Dot Woods : We're with Foreign Dignitary Protection. It's a branch of the United States government Tobin Keller : Dot. UN Security Guard : You're not in the United States, this is international territory. I need you to wait for an escort.
FBI Agent Lewis : We're on loan... Dot Woods : Which means they have to be returned in the same condition, or we don't get our money back.
Dot Woods : [to Toban as she notices explosives are attached to the light switch after she nearly turned on the light] Now that's just rude.
Dot Woods : [to Tobin about Sylvia] Are we using her as bait?
Jay Pettigrew : Keller? Go home and get some sleep. Tobin Keller : I'm gonna stay here and wait for her. Jay Pettigrew : Like hell you are. I need you awake tomorrow morning. Woods? Dot Woods : Hold on. Jay Pettigrew : Get him home.
Dot Woods : [to Tobin] They're not our family, and they're not our friends. You told me that.

Male Deaths[]

Yvan Attal [Philippe Broullet]
Jesper Christensen [Nils Lud]
Curtiss Cook [Ajene Xola]
Yusuf Gatewood [U.S. Secret Service Agent Doug]
George Harris [Kuman-Kuman]
Adrian Martinez [Roland]
Hugo Speer [Simon Broome]
Byron Utley [Jean Gamba]
Michael Wright [Marcus]

Female Deaths[]

Not sure