For a movie that never gives the viewer one moment to stop and think, “The Interpreter” lays down a fairly dense plot that demands the audience’s attention. Dozing off for a second could spell the end of understanding who’s who or what’s what. Evidence and bodies turn up too fast for even the most attentive filmgoer to follow, but don’t think too hard; like many thrillers, you have to take what the writers give you and not question it. Despite a plot that leaves some questions lingering, this film never bores.
Nicole Kidman — looking surprisingly good for a change — stars as Silvia Broome, a very private and unremarkable United Nations interpreter who inadvertently overhears a death threat against an African head of state who is scheduled to address the UN. In the first of a number of credibility-challenging coincidences, the threat is spoken in a rare language that few can understand — but she can. Silvia has a lot invested in these African relations; she herself is African-born, being from the fictional state of Matoba, where genocide and revolution occur every day.
Director Sydney Pollock gives Silvia plenty of time to state her world view. She may only be an interpreter, but she understands that a mistake in translation can have global consequences. She also voices her preference for diplomacy over violence, a view she shares with her employer, the United Nations. The writers may be using this action film to make a political statement, but thankfully it’s all in the subtext. Politics too often interfere with entertainment — and this movie is all about entertainment.
Much of the film’s excitement comes from the interaction between Kidman’s character and Sean Penn, a federal agent charged with protecting Silvia. Neither Silvia nor Tobin trusts the other; Tobin is never quite sure if Silvia is telling him the truth, or even if she herself is involved in the assassination plot.
The characters are set up to mirror each other — he’s trampled by personal demons, while she’s doing everything she can to protect the secrets of her past. This relationship allows for a quasi-romance, which could have easily taken this movie down, had the writer and director gotten caught up in it a little more. But this potential romance is downplayed, and is used to make long, dialogue-driven scenes that slow down the action and reveal layers of the dense main characters, allowing Penn and Kidman to display their best (and highly acclaimed) dramatic acting. It may be a little too melodramatic at times — a problem for both of these actors — but their characters are likable and their rough pasts make it easy to sympathize.
Pollock shows why he is such a respected director, controlling the pacing brilliantly. This is most evident in the film’s strongest scene, a super-intense moment in the middle of the film where several characters converge on a bus, all of them in much danger. The end couldn’t quite compete with this fantastic sequence, but Pollock gives it a shot, jump-cutting his way through characters just to let the audience know that things could go wrong at any moment.
The film stretches plausibility on more than one occasion (hopefully the real Secret Service could shut down the terrorist act in the film or we’re all screwed), but hey, that’s all part of this genre, right? Despite the believability issues, “The Interpreter” does enough to entertain and manages to hold suspense through the whole two hours, a rare feat for thrillers.
