November 24, 2010: Fair Game
Based on the story of the deliberate leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame in 2003, Fair Game is a dramatization of that difficult period in her life. Naomi Watts plays Valerie Plame and Sean Penn plays her husband Joe Wilson.
This is a story of which I knew some details but not much of the background. That is filled in here, with Plame’s and Wilson’s histories as relates to the incident, and the story arc of the film runs from just before the revelation (to establish Plame’s capabilities as an agent as well as the stresses it put on her family), through the most public part of the scandal, up to the point where Plame and Wilson decide that they will move on together from this dark chapter in their lives. Based on books written by each of them about the scandal, I feel that I learned as much as I want to know about this episode and don’t care much about the story of the people beyond this treatment. Perhaps that isn’t a great endorsement of Fair Game, but it is what it is.
Sean Penn cries, but he’s already got two Oscars so I don’t think this will be enough to get him a third.
I don’t know whether it’s deliberate, but Plame and Wilson appear to be rather inattentive parents throughout the film, constantly brushing off their children as they immerse themselves in their adult troubles. It may have been the intention of the filmmakers to show that they still had their family during this trying time, but the impression I got is that while they do care about their children, these are two intensely career-minded people and their children will always be playing second fiddle. Let’s hope that the situation has improved, for the sake of the kids. Fair Game is a decent timewaster and the key point for me is the injustice of a government administration which can hang out to dry anyone who says a little too much of the truth. However, telling the story from the point of view of Plame and Wilson makes it too melodramatic for my taste.
Important true story, but weakly told.
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