Expertly directed by Chris Weitz, the man who helmed Tsotsi (one of my favouritely-directed films), and anchored by excellent performances from the entire cast – Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Alan Arkin, Peter Sarsgaard and Meryl Streep – this film is a must-see, but only because of the unbelievable, incredible, blow-your-mind script by Kelley Sane – sweet God…the boy can craft a drama!I’m not sure I remember all the reasons the film was criticised when it came out, but I think one was that it was preachy and another was that the torture scenes were too uncomfortable. First, the film was hardly preachy. It did, on two or three occasions, communicate directly with the audience about the moral arguments for and against certain things, but it hardly seemed preachy. Second, the torture scenes were far from uncomfortable. I mean, they weren’t “pleasant,” but it’s not as if they were filmed in a way that they’ll haunt me for years to come. I suspect I’ve forgotten most of it, already (unlike, say, the way Bond was interrogated in Casino Royale). Far more memorable from those scenes were the performances by the interrogators and the captive – great acting all around.

In sum, a definite must-watch, if only for the script alone.

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