'Fair Game' a Real Political Thriller

Directed by Doug Liman; written by Jez Butterworth and John Harley Butterworth
with Naomi Watts, Sean Penn, Sam Shepard, Noah Emmerich, Bruce McGill, David Andrews, Tim Griffin, Liraz Charhi and Khled Nabawy

“Fair Game,” seamlessly directed by Doug Liman, is the antidote to those “feel good” holiday fluff films and the preposterous action flicks that are inundating your local cinema. This is a smart, energetic and bold adult thriller based on facts, using real names, and actual footage. The married couple at the center of “Fair Game,” like many other imperfect couples, often do not communicate and nearly divorce under the weight of stress. Except this couple is Valerie Plame Wilson, a CIA anti terror operative, and Joe Wilson, a former Ambassador to Niger. The film provides a simply brilliant counterbalancing of their public and private dramas.

President Bush wanted to go to war with Iraq. In 2002 Joe Wilson was sent to Niger to check out allegations that Niger was selling uranium (yellowcake) to Iraq. The Administration needed to prove their assertions that Iraq was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction in order to justify our invasion.  Except Joe Wilson found that no such sales were taking place.  In the meantime, Valerie Plame, among her many other CIA activities, was involved in finding Iraqi scientists/ informants who would provide information to the US in exchange for protection from Saddam Hussein.

Joe Wilson’s reports were ignored and debunked by an administration that was determined to go to War, WMD or not.  We went to War.  Wilson was totally outraged and wanted to set the record straight.  So he wrote a blistering New York Times article stating that the weapons were a myth.  Someone close to the Administration then got even by outing Valerie Plame’s identity as a covert CIA agent to journalist Robert Novak. He published the information which put Valerie and her family in mortal danger.  Carl Rove called Valerie Plame fair game. The safety of the Iraqi scientists she was trying to protect was compromised. She was fired from her CIA position and therefore could no longer protect them. She lost her livelihood. Valerie and Joe were shunned by their friends, fired from their positions, their reputations ruined.  All 70 of her sources in Iraq eventually disappeared and were probably executed by Saddam’s henchmen. Joe Wilson goes on speaking tours to excoriate the government. Valerie hides out, keeping quiet, trying to protect her young twins, and do as she is told. The death threats are a daily occurrence. Their house becomes a kind of a war zone. She wants Joe to keep quiet, but he will not. They separate. The second half of the film focuses on Valerie and Joe’s relationship and how they handle the backlash in very different ways. 

Director Liman (“Bourne Identity,”  “Go,”  “Swingers,”  “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”) based “Fair Game” on separate memoirs written by Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson. And he cast two extraordinary actors, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, as his leads. Naomi Watts even resembles Plame. She portrays her as a no nonsense agent as well as a caring mother and wife. Sean Penn is dead on as her idealistic, argumentative and fuming foil. He spends considerable time incensed at the administration for going to war under false pretenses. Watts and Penn clearly reflect personalities under pressure.  You believe in both actors.

There is actual footage of events occurring at that time. Baghdad is pummeled by bombs; Carl Rove, Dick Cheney and Scooter Libby appear at various times; there are panoramic shots of  Capitol Hill and bustling vistas of Niger and Middle Eastern locales where Valerie acts as covert agent; There are even talk show bites and news clips actually aired on TV. A lot of the film is shot with hand-held cameras, giving the film the feel of a documentary.

“Fair Game” is not an angry attack piece.  It portrays actual events which are part of our history. It gives us insight into the dynamics of two personalities under pressure. It is a pleasure to experience. The audience in the theater in which I saw “Fair Game” applauded.  That does not happen often.