The Interpreter

The Interpreter

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Sydney Pollack
Produced by Tim Bevan
Eric Fellner
Kevin Misher
Written by Martin Stellman (story)
Brian Ward (story)
David Rayfiel (uncredited)
Screenplay by Charles Randolph
Scott Frank
Steven Zaillian
Starring Nicole Kidman
Sean Penn
Catherine Keener
Music by James Newton Howard
Cinematography Darius Khondji
Edited by William Steinkamp
Production
company
Distributed by Universal Pictures
Release date
 8 April 2005 (2005-04-08) (Greece)
15 April 2005 (2005-04-15) (United Kingdom)
April 22, 2005 (2005-04-22) (United States)
Running time
 128 minutes
Country United Kingdom
United States
France
Germany
Language English
Ku
Budget $80 million
Box office $162.9 million

The Interpreter is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen.

Plot

Silvia Broome (Nicole Kidman) is an interpreter working at the United Nations in New York City. She was raised in the Republic of Matobo, a fictional African country, but also holds US citizenship. The U.N. is considering indicting Edmond Zuwanie (Earl Cameron), Matobo's president, to stand trial in the International Criminal Court. Initially a liberator, over the past 20 years he has become as corrupt and tyrannical as the government he overthrew, and is now responsible for ethnic cleansing and other atrocities within Matobo. Zuwanie is soon to visit the U.N. and put forward his own case to the General Assembly, in an attempt to avoid the indictment.

A security scare forces the evacuation of the U.N. building, and, as Silvia returns at night to reclaim some personal belongings, she overhears two men discussing an assassination plot in Ku (an African dialect she understands). Silvia runs from the building when those discussing the plot become aware of her presence. The next day, Silvia recognizes words in a meeting, where she is interpreting, from phrases she overheard the night before, and reports the incident to U.N. security; the plot's target appears to be Zuwanie himself. They, in turn, call in the U.S. Secret Service, who assign Tobin Keller (Sean Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener) to investigate, as well as protect Zuwanie when he arrives. Keller, whose estranged wife was accidentally killed just days earlier, learns that Silvia has, in the past, been involved in a Matoban guerrilla group, that her parents and sister were killed by land mines laid by Zuwanie's men, and that she has dated one of Zuwanie's political opponents. Although Keller is suspicious of Silvia's story, the two grow close, in part because of their shared grief, and Keller ends up protecting her from attacks on her person. Silvia later finds that her brother Simon and her lover Xola were killed (as shown in the opening scene).

The purported assassin is discovered (and shot to death) while Zuwanie is in the middle of his address to the General Assembly, and security personnel rush Zuwanie to a safe room for his protection. Silvia, anticipating this, has been hiding in the safe room, and confronts Zuwanie and intends to kill him herself. Keller determines that the assassination plot is a false flag operation created by Zuwanie to gain credibility that his rivals are terrorists and to deter potential supporters of his removal. Keller rushes to the safe room and arrives just in time to prevent Silvia from murdering Zuwanie. Zuwanie is indicted, and Silvia is expelled from the U.S., returning home to Matobo soon afterwards.

Cast

Production

The Interpreter was shot almost entirely in New York City. The opening sequence was shot in Mozambique with a support crew made up largely of South African nationals.

Filming in U.N. buildings

Parts of The Interpreter were filmed inside the U.N. General Assembly and Security Council chambers. The producers approached the U.N. about filming there before, but their request was turned down. The production would have relocated to Toronto with a constructed set; however, this would have substantially increased costs, and so Sydney Pollack approached then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan directly, and personally negotiated permission to film inside the United Nations. Annan commented on The Interpreter that "the intention was really to do something dignified, something that is honest and reflects the work that this Organization does. And it is with that spirit that the producers and the directors approached their work, and I hope you will all agree they have done that."

Ambassadors at the U.N. had hoped to appear in the film, but actors were asked to play the roles of diplomats. Spain's U.N. Ambassador Inocencio Arias jokingly complained that his "opportunity to have a nomination for the Oscar next year went away because of some stupid regulation."[1]

Matobo and Ku

The country "Republic of Matobo" and its corresponding constructed language "Ku" were created for this film. The director of the Centre for African Language Learning in Covent Garden, London, England, Said el-Gheithy, was commissioned in January 2004 to create Ku. Ku is based on Bantu languages spoken in Eastern and Southern Africa, and is a cross between Swahili and Shona, with some unique elements.

The film's tagline, "the truth needs no translation," in Ku would be angota ho ne njumata."

The Interpreter and Zimbabwe

There are strong parallels between President Robert Mugabe and the character Dr. Zuwanie in the film, as well as between Matobo and Zimbabwe – which banned the film after it had been shown in the country. The parallels include:

Zimbabwe's government has itself spotted the parallels between Mugabe and Zuwanie.[2]

Reception

The Interpreter earned mixed reviews from critics, as it now holds a 56% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 192 reviews.

Box office

The picture was No. 1 In its opening weekend. According to Box Office Mojo, The Interpreter had a domestic gross of $72,708,161 and an international tally of $90,236,762, bringing the picture's worldwide gross to $162,944,923 versus an $80 million budget, so the film was considered a box office success.

Awards

In 2005, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded Catherine Keener as Best Supporting Actress, for her parts in several films including The Interpreter.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Diplomats' movie hopes dashed
  2. ↑ "Zimbabwe accuses CIA of film plot". BBC news. 5 September 2005. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  3. ↑ . The Herald, Zimbabwe http://www.herald.co.zw/. Retrieved 4 December 2014. Missing or empty |title= (help)
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