One of Nicole Kidman's Finest Performances. Sean Penn's performance starts off flat with his character grumpy and unappealing, but as film progresses, one learns this was an appropriate approach based on the character's history.

This was a complicated story to bring to film, and Pollack did an adequate job in that regard, but too often the pacing is just a bit too slow and uneven.

Where Sidney shines is in bringing out the best in actors, and for me, this was one of Kidman's best performances in film, making it worth the view alone.

One must hunker down in this film as it is atypically a slow paced and subtle thriller. Some scenes don't connect with what would likely be realistic outcomes of circumstances, so the film loses 2 points for those moments, and another point for some hodgepodge editing.

Well done plot twists, a few moving moments, and Kidman's performance maintain the film's 7 Rating and a

Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is a UN interpreter who is fluent in the fictional African language of Ku, spoken in her fictional native country of Matobo. When she returns to her office one night to retrieve something, she overhears some men plotting (in Ku) to assassinate the president of Matobo. Now that it looks like someone is probably after her, US agent Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) is assigned to protect her. From there, we learn that every character knows more than they are revealing.

What I determined most while watching "The Interpreter" was not whether it was a good or bad movie, although I did like it. It seems that when you reach certain degrees of international relations, there are no good guys, no bad guys, and no middle ground; there is only moral nihilism. We learn that for years, Matobo was ruled by the white minority while the black majority lived in desperate poverty. Then, current president Edmund Zuwanie led a revolution that brought the black population to power. Unfortunately, he turned into a dictator. Among other things, he murdered Silvia's family. Whether or not Silvia wants revenge is not the point (but she does admit: "I don't care for him."). The point is that no character can be truly classified one way or the other.

As for what the movie said about the United Nations as an organization, it didn't take a solidly pro- or anti-UN stance, although it leaned towards pro. Like I said, the point overall seems to be that you can't go totally one way or the other.

I heard some good comments about this movie from some colleagues, and I bought the DVD really expecting to see great film. Directed by Sydney Pollack and having Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn and Catherine Keener in the cast, I thought that it would certainly be a great political thriller. Unfortunately I was absolutely wrong.

The confused and flawed screenplay does not develop well the characters, the story is very disappointing and commercial and there are very stupid lines, such as when Silvia asks Keller what he does when he can not sleep, and he answers that he stays awake; or when Dot comes to a stripper in a night-club and asks her to not touch the Prime Minister in a lap dance. What about the secret service leaving the menaced president of a country alone in a room after an attempt against his life? Why would a citizen and her president together alone speak in English instead of in their native dialect or language? The conclusion is simply awful and corny, and the alternative ending with worse than the original one. There is a total lack of chemistry between Nicole Kidman and Sean Penn for the insinuated romance arising between them. Nicole Kidman seems to have fixed the awful plastic surgery of her nose, and is very beautiful again in this flick.

Last but not the least, it is very weird that many favorable reviews are made by users with only one review issued in IMDb, in a type of apparently fake promotion. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "A Intérprete" ("The Interpreter")