Fair Game (PG-13) 7.5

Fair Game (2010): CIA operative Valerie Plame discovers her identity is leaked by the government as payback for an op-ed article her husband wrote criticizing the Bush administration. (6.8)

Director: Doug Liman
Screenplay: Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth
Books: Joseph Wilson, Valerie Plame Wilson
Stars: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn

This is the real life story behind the reasons given by the Bush Administration for the Iraq War II. We see how the high ranking officials from the Bush White House got the CIA analysts to say what they (WH) wanted to hear, and generate "evidence" to base their claims for a war. What we will never know is what discussions took place inside the White House even though we do see a couple of brief scenes with Scooter Libby and Karl Rove in the movie. Lots of people have written quite extensively about the events, the fabrication of lies, the manipulation of evidence, and the character assassination carried out against the Wilsons, etc. but what most people have not said is this: The White House said that the wife of one of US Ambassadors is a CIA agent. That is not only a slap in the face for many thousands of career diplomats who work for the State Department and have given their lives for the foreign service, but it also puts many diplomats and their spouses at risk in various parts of the world. The White House did that ... just to score political points and to tarnish the credibility of one person who questioned the validity of the claims for an all-out war. For what ... to justify the Bush Administration's affinity for war, so they could feed the "military industrial complex." As for the movie itself, Naomi Watts and Sean Penn are superb and present the characters as we remember them from the various TV interviews and congressional hearings. The story does not dwell on the politics of if Bush knew or how much Rove was involved or if Cheney was the mastermind, etc. Rather, the movie presents the human side of the Wilsons and what they sacrificed for telling the truth. This movie should be watched along with Why We Fight that looks at the monster we have created in our military industry and various players who depend on it. I very highly recommend this movie. My Rating: 7.5