Barnes & Noble

An unusually intelligent thriller that stretches credulity far less than most of its kind, The Interpreter has the added cachet of a plot that could easily have come right out of today's headlines. Nicole Kidman portrays a United Nations interpreter who claims to have overheard two men discussing a plan to assassinate an African reformer-turned-dictator planning to address the General Assembly. Assigned to investigate the matter, a U.S. Secret Service agent (Sean Penn) learns that the interpreter has a personal stake in the dictator's health that potentially undermines her credibility. Veteran director Sydney Pollack rather pointedly eschews melodrama, maintaining an almost documentary-like tone and interpolating background material that underscores the plight of poor Africans being victimized daily by their corrupt leaders. Perhaps even more impressively, he holds a lid on Penn, whose attention-drawing mannerisms and histrionic excesses sometimes overshadow the characters he plays. In fact, Pollack elicits terrific performances from everybody; Catherine Keener is excellent in the underwritten role of Penn's partner, and Jesper Christensen is appropriately smarmy as the dictator's shrewd security chief. The film's unsensational tone actually works against it when the plot briefly gets bogged down, but Pollack gins up suspense in the third act and brings The Interpreter to an eminently satisfying conclusion. Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

An overheard conversation leads a woman into a dark world of deadly intrigue in this political thriller. Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an African émigré who works as an interpreter at the United Nations. One of the languages she understands is Ku, a dialect spoken in her home country of Matobo. One day, as the General Assembly auditorium is being evacuated for a routine security sweep, Broome overhears a man speaking in Ku, who makes a cryptic statement that could be interpreted as a threat against the life of Zuwanie (Earl Cameron), Matobo's controversial ruler. Secret Service agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is brought in to investigate Broome's story, and it isn't long before he's convinced that she knows more than she's willing to tell. As Keller and his partner, Dot Woods (Catherine Keener), dig deeper into Broome's story as well as her past, they discover a shocking tale of violence and corruption tied to Zuwanie's regime. The Interpreter was directed by Sydney Pollack, who also appears in a brief supporting role. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 025192037672
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Time: 2:09:00