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Hola amigos, buenas vibras para todos.
**Hello friends, good vibes to all.
Sydney Sweeney is one of the actresses who is quickly making a name for herself in the highly competitive and predatory Hollywood industry, and not exactly what you might be thinking. She started out strong in Euphoria, the highly acclaimed and much talked about series, even appearing in the first season of The White Lotus. Evidently she has appeared in several movies but if you ask me these two appearances are where you can see her acting at its best. Why do I make this context? - Because in this production all the weight and the spotlight is focused on her and how she was able, being in a totally empty room, to interpret and transmit the way she did.
For those who do not know this "plot", it is a fact based on real life which turned an entire country upside down, the United States to be exact. It tells us how much they control and monitor the whole issue of national security and what it means to them if information leaks and falls into the wrong hands. This woman at the time read, extracted and shared material to which she should not have had access creating a disinformation, or not, of a fact related to the 2016 presidential elections. The truth is that a film quite uncomfortable to watch at times which is embellished by a very good Sydney. But let's go ahead and talk a little bit about this particular work made by HBO.
As I said this story is based on something that happened back in June 2017 when Reality Winner, a former member of the United States Air Force, was arrested and charged with espionage. Reality was leading a normal life working as a translator for an agency in charge of the country's national security, this allowed her to have access to information that probably should not have been available to her. The fatigue of living in that country is what made Reality do what she ended up doing, it was a politically convulsed country where the only thing that was breathed were conflicts of that nature, this is not intended to exempt Winter's actions but it is likely to give a bit of context.
But what is this production about? - The good thing about this one is that all the interactions we see are taken from the original recordings of that interrogation which took place in the Reality house. So yes, the 85 minutes of film comprise an uncomfortable, complex and even difficult to watch interrogation where we see FBI agents using all the known techniques to persuade and break the mind of, in this case, the suspect. At first glance it may seem boring and tiring to watch but personally it was not so, Sweeney's performance along with the way of interaction with the agents made the interest never lost.
Something curious that is seen and I don't know if this is really how these people are in real life or if it was something adapted to the film is the strange and bizarre way these agents act. I can understand that it is a formula to make you feel uncomfortable and in parallel at ease, I know it sounds weird, but there were scenes in which one as a viewer did not understand the way of acting of some of these agents. This is not synonymous with something bad, on the contrary, I found it funny in a good way to the point that you laugh but for the level of absurdity of the interactions. I am convinced that everything is deliberate in order to create an environment in which they are the ones who demonstrate absolute power.
Another factor is how fragile the human mind is when it is not programmed to do something really bad. At first we see a confident and calm Reality, a woman sure that nothing is going on and that everything is either routine or a misunderstanding. But as the agents begin to tighten the screws and become more incisive everything little by little falls apart until we finally get to the truth. And this "breakdown" is reflected in the way our protagonist acts, in the gestures, in the countenance of her face, the way she speaks and even in her posture, making one connect through the screen in a better way to the point of feeling that discomfort and the sensation of reaching a dead end.
This film, I don't know if I should call it that, reminded me a bit of The Whale in the sense that everything takes place inside a house. This tells us that you don't need a million dollar production to know how to reach the audience, all you need is a good story to be told and an acting that is able to fill each and every space. I can understand that this is not for everyone, there is no action of any kind, no shooting, no hits; the only thing there is is a very well crafted drama accompanied by some very particular dialogues and interactions to the point that it ends up being something worth watching. Bringing to life an interrogation that is documented only through audio and managing to capture the expressions and personality of each person is the tricky part here and is the real magic of this work.
The acting work of a promising young actress, because she is only 25 years old, is brutal to the level that this interpretation should be taken to the major film and television awards. I remember when I saw her acting in Euphoria I said on more than one occasion that the ability of this woman to convey emotions, whatever their nature, is gigantic. I feel that in this role she manages to mimic in such a way with the original Reality that if you see pictures of the two it can be difficult to recognize which is which and yes, the work that must have been behind it must have been important. I saw this story basically because of her and I ended up very satisfied.
It is a simple but high quality work, with a lot of depth and a high level of interpretation. I give it an 8/10 because it fully complies with its premise which is to live or relive what was that interrogation making the viewer feel uncomfortable putting us in the skin of the suspect. I think it is well worth watching and therefore I recommend it to everyone. It has a duration of less than an hour and a half and you can get it on HBO. Here is the trailer.
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Bueno mi gente por hoy es todo, espero que les haya gustado. ¡Un abrazo a todos, nos vemos en la próxima!
*****Well my people that's all for today, I hope you liked it. ¡A hug to everyone, see you next time!
