"Five Fingers" is a great psychological thriller, which takes place mainly inside a torture room. The story is about Martijn (Phillipe), a young Dutch idealist who goes to Morocco to finance a food program from money he has embezzled; his cause is encouraged by his Moroccan girlfriend, Saadia (Haoud). However, as soon as he reaches Rabat, he gets abducted by a terrorist group, led by a dark character played by Lawrence Fishburne, who believes that Martijn has come there with a sinister purpose. They interrogate him harshly, and although in the beginning he tries to explain his mission, he subsequently decides to change his story. What is the truth, then?
Malkin provides us with a carefully crafted claustrophobic setting, with the tension gradually building up as the abductors play cat and mouse with Martijn. In this theatrical atmosphere, all actors give good performances, and are even moderately successful in applying their respective accents (Dutch, Arabic).
However, the best thing of all is the clever ending, which of course I am not going to reveal here. From that alone, the film deserves an 8/10.
