“Those to whom evil is done do evil in return.” - 'Body of Lies' Review...
Posted on October 10, 2008 - 6:37pm by michael
Body of Lies is a fast-paced action thriller laced with a healthy dose of some of the more dangerous of modern political and military realities. It is, however, also laced with over-the-top action sequences and just a little too much Rambo-style superhuman stunts, although not exactly of the action variety. It has a dense and realistic narrative, although one that moves along at such a fast pace that you’re almost afraid to take your eyes and ears off of it even for a second for fear of missing something. I found myself rewinding the DVD at least once every ten minutes or so to make sure I got everything right.
This does, however, make for a very engaging action movie with a strong appeal to the more mature viewers, who are sure to appreciate a break from the standard Hollywood trash. It requires constant thought about and re-analysis of our political beliefs, but it doesn’t ever overtly support or condemn either side (if, in fact, the collective whole were to be reduced to two sides). For a movie to so directly approach the tense political atmosphere and the controversial situation of the American wars in the Middle East and not come off as pushing a political agenda of its own is a feat in itself, and it’s only one of the many that Body of Lies successfully pulls off.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Roger Ferris, the CIA’s man on the ground in the Middle East, who keeps in amazingly close contact with Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) via what must be a satellite phone, and a miraculously reliable one. Ferris shuttles easily between Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and other locations, speaking sufficiently fluent Arabic that he is not only able to pass himself off as a local but can also recognize his nurse’s hometown by her accent. This guy has studied well.
Hoffman is the bureaucrat back in Washington, an overweight white guy with a Texan accent and such a swagger in his attitude that it would not be at all surprising to see him wearing cowboy boots and smoking an enormous cigar.
The comparisons to the real players in America’s presidency (at the time of the movie) are as obvious as possible, and Ferris represents the movie’s political statement, which thankfully is not for or against the war but for reminding us that what we see in TV is not the reality on the ground over there.
Ferris and Hoffman are seeking out a terrorist kingpin, an obvious Osama bin Laden clone, which forces them to form a shaky allegiance with the head of the Jordanian Intelligence Agency, a deadly serious man named Hani Salaam. His one, simple request, “Do not lie to me,” seems simple enough and Ferris believes himself when he agrees to it, but deteriorating matters on the ground and conflicting orders from Hoffman start to make his promise more and more difficult to keep.
The story's main idea is for Ferris and Hoffman to create, all by themselves, a phantom terrorist organization that is bigger, better trained, and better-funded than the leading terrorist organization, hoping to smoke out the leader, who is expected to try to contact them. Pretty good plan, although it's impossible to believe that only a few guys could pulls something like that off.
The story takes us all over the world, but concentrates mostly on events taking place in Washington and the Middle East. The leap-frogging that Hoffman does between the U.S. and Iraq (and the effortless leap-frogging that Ferris does all over the Middle East) seem like something that belongs in a 007 movie, but the exaggerations of their tactical abilities are all designed to make a very important point. In fact, if the movie weren’t grounded in reality by the message that it’s passing on, it would easily have come off as little more than a tense political thriller with little bearing on real life other than passing on the political points of view of the filmmaking team behind it.
The movie is about the American war in Iraq, there is not point beating around that little bush. It’s about the Bush administration having brought us there and it’s about the fact that now we’re there and there is no end in sight. But it doesn’t criticize the war or the war effort, it’s about the harsh reality that there is no all-good side and no all-bad side. Hoffman repeats several times in the movie that no one is innocent in all of this as he tries to convince Ferris of the fact that in order to save lives, some innocent lives have to be lost. Ferris can’t accept this, especially when it becomes personal, but he understands that it’s true. In order to defeat this kind of enemy, we have to become like them in more ways than most people are willing to accept.
The other problem is that, in the war against terrorism, the terrorists are invisible, and it’s the well-prepared, trained, armed, and uniformed soldiers who are the easy targets, and for every one of them that we kill or capture, not only do two more spring up where they were, but an unknown number of innocent lives are all too often lost. This does not speak well for our chances of success.
Ridley Scott builds here on his work in his outstanding film
Black Hawk Down, and DiCaprio is also picking up where he left off in
Blood Diamond, as an American with an incredible ability to blend into very different cultures and as a man that simply looks great yelling into a cell phone. Russell Crowe captures the all-American swagger (and arrogance?) that got us into trouble in the first place, and for all of its excesses, it isn’t until the final scene that the movie really reveals the real differences between Hoffman and Ferris which illustrate the meaning of the movie.
In a heated exchange, Ferris suggests that in Jordan there are real people with real lives and when you’re not looking at the site of a suicide bombing on television, it’s an interesting society with a long history and well-developed culture that could be an interesting and satisfying place to live. Hoffman, incredulous, says, “No one likes the Middle east!” to which Ferris calmly responds, “Well, maybe that’s the problem right there.”
Even more importantly, when Ferris approaches the idea of no longer working for the CIA, Hoffman is understandably unhappy. “You walk out that door,” he says, “and you’re walking out on America.”
“Be careful,” Ferris says, “about calling yourself America…”
The Bean Meter
[caption id="attachment_24153" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="4.5 Beans out of 5."]
[/caption]
Body of Lies is a fast-paced action thriller laced with a healthy dose of some of the more dangerous of modern political and military realities. It is, however, also laced with over-the-top action sequences and just a little too much Rambo-style superhuman stunts, although not exactly of the action variety. It has a dense and realistic narrative, although one that moves along at such a fast pace that you’re almost afraid to take your eyes and ears off of it even for a second for fear of missing something. I found myself rewinding the DVD at least once every ten minutes or so to make sure I got everything right.
This does, however, make for a very engaging action movie with a strong appeal to the more mature viewers, who are sure to appreciate a break from the standard Hollywood trash. It requires constant thought about and re-analysis of our political beliefs, but it doesn’t ever overtly support or condemn either side (if, in fact, the collective whole were to be reduced to two sides). For a movie to so directly approach the tense political atmosphere and the controversial situation of the American wars in the Middle East and not come off as pushing a political agenda of its own is a feat in itself, and it’s only one of the many that Body of Lies successfully pulls off.
Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Roger Ferris, the CIA’s man on the ground in the Middle East, who keeps in amazingly close contact with Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe) via what must be a satellite phone, and a miraculously reliable one. Ferris shuttles easily between Iraq, Jordan, Syria, and other locations, speaking sufficiently fluent Arabic that he is not only able to pass himself off as a local but can also recognize his nurse’s hometown by her accent. This guy has studied well.
Hoffman is the bureaucrat back in Washington, an overweight white guy with a Texan accent and such a swagger in his attitude that it would not be at all surprising to see him wearing cowboy boots and smoking an enormous cigar. 
The comparisons to the real players in America’s presidency (at the time of the movie) are as obvious as possible, and Ferris represents the movie’s political statement, which thankfully is not for or against the war but for reminding us that what we see in TV is not the reality on the ground over there.
Ferris and Hoffman are seeking out a terrorist kingpin, an obvious Osama bin Laden clone, which forces them to form a shaky allegiance with the head of the Jordanian Intelligence Agency, a deadly serious man named Hani Salaam. His one, simple request, “Do not lie to me,” seems simple enough and Ferris believes himself when he agrees to it, but deteriorating matters on the ground and conflicting orders from Hoffman start to make his promise more and more difficult to keep.
The story's main idea is for Ferris and Hoffman to create, all by themselves, a phantom terrorist organization that is bigger, better trained, and better-funded than the leading terrorist organization, hoping to smoke out the leader, who is expected to try to contact them. Pretty good plan, although it's impossible to believe that only a few guys could pulls something like that off. 
The story takes us all over the world, but concentrates mostly on events taking place in Washington and the Middle East. The leap-frogging that Hoffman does between the U.S. and Iraq (and the effortless leap-frogging that Ferris does all over the Middle East) seem like something that belongs in a 007 movie, but the exaggerations of their tactical abilities are all designed to make a very important point. In fact, if the movie weren’t grounded in reality by the message that it’s passing on, it would easily have come off as little more than a tense political thriller with little bearing on real life other than passing on the political points of view of the filmmaking team behind it.
The movie is about the American war in Iraq, there is not point beating around that little bush. It’s about the Bush administration having brought us there and it’s about the fact that now we’re there and there is no end in sight. But it doesn’t criticize the war or the war effort, it’s about the harsh reality that there is no all-good side and no all-bad side. Hoffman repeats several times in the movie that no one is innocent in all of this as he tries to convince Ferris of the fact that in order to save lives, some innocent lives have to be lost. Ferris can’t accept this, especially when it becomes personal, but he understands that it’s true. In order to defeat this kind of enemy, we have to become like them in more ways than most people are willing to accept. 
The other problem is that, in the war against terrorism, the terrorists are invisible, and it’s the well-prepared, trained, armed, and uniformed soldiers who are the easy targets, and for every one of them that we kill or capture, not only do two more spring up where they were, but an unknown number of innocent lives are all too often lost. This does not speak well for our chances of success.
Ridley Scott builds here on his work in his outstanding film Black Hawk Down, and DiCaprio is also picking up where he left off in Blood Diamond, as an American with an incredible ability to blend into very different cultures and as a man that simply looks great yelling into a cell phone. Russell Crowe captures the all-American swagger (and arrogance?) that got us into trouble in the first place, and for all of its excesses, it isn’t until the final scene that the movie really reveals the real differences between Hoffman and Ferris which illustrate the meaning of the movie.
In a heated exchange, Ferris suggests that in Jordan there are real people with real lives and when you’re not looking at the site of a suicide bombing on television, it’s an interesting society with a long history and well-developed culture that could be an interesting and satisfying place to live. Hoffman, incredulous, says, “No one likes the Middle east!” to which Ferris calmly responds, “Well, maybe that’s the problem right there.”
Even more importantly, when Ferris approaches the idea of no longer working for the CIA, Hoffman is understandably unhappy. “You walk out that door,” he says, “and you’re walking out on America.”
“Be careful,” Ferris says, “about calling yourself America…”
The Bean Meter
[caption id="attachment_24153" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="4.5 Beans out of 5."]
[/caption] 
