REVIEW 055n the face of it, the prospect of a knotty
political drama about the US Senate’s 2012
investigation into the CIA’s ‘Enhanced
Interrogation Techniques’ (or EITs) post 9/11 is a
pretty tough sell. It’s highly fortunate, then, that
the material surrounding the Senate’s ‘Torture
Report’ is skilfully translated into a feature film by
writer/director Scott Z Burns, who has been quietly
on form for years as the man behind the scripts for
Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!, Contagion,
Side Effects and The Laundromat.
While Aaron Sorkin’s political scripts are
motor-mouthed walking-and-talking affairs, and
Adam McKay favours bombastic finger-jabbing,
there’s something far more subtle at play in Burns’
more trenchant and damning film. The focus of the
story is Senate staffer Dan Jones (Adam Driver),
who is charged with compiling a report on the CIA’s
operations regarding terror suspects in the wake
of 9/11. His search for the truth is hindered by the
tricky machinations of power at the highest level,
and his frustrations become more pronounced as
months of work turn into years in a basement office,
with no guarantee that his findings will ever see the
light of day.
It’s an interesting role for Driver, as Jones is a
quiet, thoughtful, largely unknown figure whose
dogged determination is his greatest strength. Burns
doesn’t paint Jones as some crusading all-American
hero – he’s just a man doing his job, and doing it
exceptionally well. It’s a testament to Driver’s talent
and versatility that he’s able to deliver monologues
heavy with political jargon in a genuinely engagingmanner. The material could easily have become
dense and inaccessible, but Driver is a strong
enough presence to keep the weighty content
engrossing. Meanwhile Annette Bening provides
the perfect foil as Jones’ boss, Senator Dianne
Feinstein, who supports him while remaining keenly
aware that she must navigate the tricky tripartite
relationship between the government, the CIA
and the FBI. Watching them go toe-to-toe as they
argue their case makes for a masterclass in acting
and reacting.
Burns also takes a swing at media outlets that
comply with rather than question those in power,
directly alluding to Zero Dark Thirty and Fox
television series 24 as propaganda, reinforcing the
great lie at the heart of the CIA’s EIT programme:
that it actually worked. Of course, even knowing
what we do now about the CIA’s abhorrent actions,
the reality is that no one was ever prosecuted for
the human rights abuses that occurred (and which
are detailed with shocking realism here). Perhaps
the only shaky part of the film is the decision to
show flashbacks in a thick yellow wash, which feels
a little heavy-handed given the already devastating
scenes of torture. Still, a sense of quiet fury seeps
up through the narrative, although we never
see it explode onto the screen – and it’s a more
interesting, thoughtful film for it. The Report is a
sobering indictment of America’s recent history
that marks Burns as a talented director as well as an
exceptional screenwriter, while reaffirming Driver’s
credentials as one of the most exciting actors
working today. HANNAH WOODHEADDirected by
SCOTT Z BURNS
Starring
ADAM DRIVER
ANNETTE BENING
JON HAMM
Released
15 NOVEMBER
ANTICIPATION.
Excited to see how screenwriter
Scott Z Burns fares in the
driving seat.
ENJOYMENT.
Gripping and damning
in equal measure.
IN RETROSPECT.
A strong showing of political
corruption and deep exasperation.
The Report
O