Die Dolmetscherin

Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an UN interpreter. She overhears two men discussing a mysterious plot in an African language. "The Teacher will never leave this room alive." Allege war criminal Matobo president Edmond Zuwanie is coming to address the UN General Assembly. She becomes convinced that the threat is against Zuwanie and tells the UN security. U.S. Secret Service Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener) are assigned to protect Zuwanie and they investigate Silvia. It turns out that her family suffered under Zuwanie and she is connected with the opposition.

This starts as an interesting thriller with the UN as a backdrop. The political intrigue is somewhat engrossing like a murky 70s thriller. Kidman is cold and Penn is a bit unstable. I wish his character is the protagonist and the audience can unravel the intrigue from the outside. Kidman's character is better with mystery. The movie should keep some distance from her. The audience should keep guessing about her. I do have a few questions about the ending and it drags on a bit too long. It should probably use an alternate ending.

Being from Africa, I found it highly annoying that they decided to use a fake country name (which of course not a lot of people would know!).

The general idea was great and I love NIcole Kidman, and I was really looking forward to watch this movie. However, after seeing it, I felt a lot more could have been done with this wonderful cast and great idea - a lot was missing and it was pretty predictable.

The sad thing is that there are a lot of children actually walking around with automatic weapons, killing for "lunch money" to survive. The civil wars in Sudan are also very sad, but what is even more sad is that we sit here as bystanders and we don't do anything about it. Yeah, we might complain a little if we hear (or shall I say when we hear/read - because so little is said about it) but then people are more worried about foreign gasoline imports, than they are about human lives in a far away country. All it takes is to contact your local government representative.

While I feel this movie shed a little light on that, and yes I know the story is not about it, the plot could have been more suspenseful and unpredictable.

Director Sidney Pollack has given us some very fine films in the past; THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR and TOOTSIE come immediately to mind, and he won an Oscar for OUT OF Africa (although it's not high on my personal list of his films). But not even Mr. Pollack can make a great film without having a script to start with. I think that's the lesson of THE INTERPRETER. There are many things that are just not well thought out here, and the whole suffers as a result.

Penn is great as always, Kidman does a lot with her character, but often they're wandering through the scenes in a story that doesn't seem to know where to go next. Actually the fact the movie makes any sense at all is a credit to Pollack's experience and talent. There are some great ideas here, and there's certainly a level of entertainment achieved; even some thought provoking moments. But it's clear the filmmakers weren't working from a well prepared script. 6 out of 10.

One of Nicole Kidman's Finest Performances. Sean Penn's performance starts off flat with his character grumpy and unappealing, but as film progresses, one learns this was an appropriate approach based on the character's history.

This was a complicated story to bring to film, and Pollack did an adequate job in that regard, but too often the pacing is just a bit too slow and uneven.

Where Sidney shines is in bringing out the best in actors, and for me, this was one of Kidman's best performances in film, making it worth the view alone.

One must hunker down in this film as it is atypically a slow paced and subtle thriller. Some scenes don't connect with what would likely be realistic outcomes of circumstances, so the film loses 2 points for those moments, and another point for some hodgepodge editing.

Well done plot twists, a few moving moments, and Kidman's performance maintain the film's 7 Rating and a 👍 recommendation to view.

I had the chance to see this film yesterday at its world opening in Athens,Greece."The interpreter" is a political thriller directed by one of the most suitable filmmakers for this,Sydney Pollack. Nicole Kidman plays the role of a South African-born UN translator who overhears an assassination threat against the dictator of an African country.Sean Penn plays the role of a Secret Service agent,assigned to investigate the case.Soon we find out that the interpreter's past could explain her possible involvement in the conspiracy.So-maybe-not everything is exactly as it seems to be. Both Kidman and Penn give controlled and emotional performances,although intense and powerful on the inside.It's nice to see 2 stars of the value of Kidman and Penn to make these choices in their career and not waste their talent in indifferent projects. In the end the film is not only a political thriller.It is also a story on overcoming personal losses,dealing with the past in a clever,effective way and moving on...