The Case for True Lies

You might not be able to guess, but I get out to see quite a few movies. As a reward for my ongoing devotion to Reading cinemas, I was granted a free ticket a while ago, and with the expiry date just around the corner, for a change I went to a weekend movie. While initially I had intended to see a different movie, the friendly staff behind the counter generously allowed my fairly restricted voucher to get me a ticket to a new release.

Body of Lies, the new Ridley Scott film, stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Ferris, a CIA operative trying to rid the Middle East of the terrorist element. Russell Crowe plays the annoying, interfering CIA boss Hoffman, Mark Strong the tough as torture yet impeccably dressed Jordanian Intelligence chief Hani Salaam and the bad terrorist leader they are all desperately hunting for is Al-Saleem.

I won't go into the plot too much, but it is all fairly basic fare (even the big conspiracy to bring down Al-Saleem seems a bit too pat) but well told and beautifully shot. For me, the more interesting thing was the portrayal of the bosses (Hoffman, Salaam and Al-Saleem) as unbelievalby arrogant, self involved and completely manipulative yet quite divorced from the real world in which their actions take effect. It's an odd sensation to find the CIA chief as appalling as the leader of a terrorist organisation, but from Ferris' point of view, they are both pretty much bastards. He only really seems to respect Salaam, but even there the respect is given with the knowledge that their friendship, due to the nature of their jobs, is limited.

I did enjoy this film, with the Middle East shown as a stunning place (including the gorgeous Golshifteh Farahani as the love interest), the action scenes heart-pumping, and the acting amazing, even if there are only two sympathetic characters. But it was a fairly harsh film in that non-leaders were shown only as pawns (sometimes pawns not even involved in the game) to be used and manipulated by higher powers for the good of their particular interests. In the end, it was a fairly harsh yet possibly accurate representation of the Middle East, and the world in general. A sobering thought for a Saturday night...

Verdict: A great film, though ultimately a bit of a downer, Body of Lies was a beautiful looking film that made me look to the sky and wonder. Six untruths out of ten.