Body of Lies
Ever since the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the subsequent “War on Terror” in the Middle East, the multiplexes have seen more than their fair share of war and political films. One of the best of this wave of cinema is Ridley Scott’s “Black Hawk Down,” which told the story of two black hawk helicopters that were shot down by warlords in Somalia in 1993, and the soldier’s fight for survival. Scott’s vision of the event placed us right in the middle of the action with unnerving suspense and energy- you weren’t just watching the action, you were in the middle of it.
Scott’s “Body of Lies” benefits from the same sense of clarity and energy, even when it’s based not on life but on a novel by David Ignatius. No matter, Scott and screenwriter William Monahan- “The Departed” Oscar-winner who also wrote incisively about Middle East tensions in Scott’s underrated “Kingdom of Heaven”- make you believe it as Roger Ferris (Leonardo DiCaprio), a CIA man on the ground in the region who pulls the strings for CIA man in D.C. Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), who’s pulling out all the stops to find Al Qaeda operative Al-Saleem, who’s responsible for several bombings in Europe and is hiding out in Jordan. The tension really picks up when Hoffman catches wind of a terrorist safe house in Jordan that could lead them to Al-Saleem, and sends Ferris into the country to lead intelligence agents in the country to capture him. When Ferris brings the head of Jordanian intelligence Hani Sallam (Mark Strong, in a note-perfect performance that makes what could’ve been a one-note character into a flesh-and-blood person) into the operation, knowing cooperation with the Jordanian government is vital to his success, the shit really starts to hit the fan, and Ferris is endangered at every turn, especially when he gets involved with a Jordanian nurse (Golshifteh Farahani, making the most of this otherwise-contrived subplot) and Hoffman interferes with Ferris’ operation unilaterally.
Scott and Monahan make the film feel lived-in and real even when the plot devices start to add up. But the film has a real juice to it, not unlike Peter Berg’s political thriller “The Kingdom,” which succeeded even greater with what it says about American involvement in the region- and the mileage it gained from its’ character’s relationships- than this film- overlong slightly (not an unusual criticism of Scott’s films) and convoluted to a fault at times. And when it’s on its’ game- usually when DiCaprio and Crowe- both in peak form, with Crowe especially standing out as a mercenary in a suit carrying a cell phone, unafraid of stepping over that line of legality and common courtesy when circumstances allow- are butting heads and the tension is on at the threat of losing a contact or even a finger (a torture session Ferris is made to endure is more potent than most we’ve seen over the years)- “Body of Lies” illuminates a side of the American psyche we prefer to not think about, where moral boundaries are crossed for the sake of displaying American supremacy and righteousness. Some of it may be hard to swallow, let alone follow, but Scott and Monahan have done nothing else if not turn in a hot-button geopolitical topic into a damn fine pot-boiler for the masses. If that’s what it takes to get some people to seriously think about our role in the world, count me in.
