The Interpreter is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen. It was the first film shot inside the United Nations Headquarters, as well as the final feature film directed by Pollack before his death in 2008.
An international co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France, the film was released in all three countries in April 2005. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $162 million against its $80 million budget.
Plot[]
In the fictional Southern African country of Matobo, rebel leader Ajene Xola drives two men, Simon Broome and Philippe, to an abandoned stadium. They discuss how President Edmond Zuwanie's regime has ruthlessly exterminated most of the population and intimidated the survivors into silence. Upon their arrival at the stadium, they find three schoolboys, who point Xola and Simon in the direction of corpses left by Zuwanie's security apparatus, while Philippe stays in the car. When Xola and Simon return to the playing field, they are executed by the boys who are accomplices of Zuwanie's secret police. Philippe clambers out of the car and hides, taking pictures of a car arriving carrying Zuwanie's lackeys, and then escapes.
Simon's sister, Silvia, works at the United Nations Interpretation Service in New York. A white African born in the United States to a British mother and white Matoban father, she was raised in Matobo and studied in France. Her diverse background leads to UN Security Chief Lee Wu wryly describing her as "being the UN". The UN is considering indicting Zuwanie, 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. Zuwanie is soon to visit the UN and put forward his own case to the UN General Assembly, in an attempt to avoid the indictment.
A random security scare forces the evacuation of the UN headquarters. When Silvia returns at night to reclaim some personal belongings, she overhears two men discussing an assassination plot in Ku (the Matoban lingua franca). Silvia runs from the building when the men 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 UN security; the plot's target appears to be Zuwanie.
The US Secret Service assigns Dignitary Protection Division (DPD) agents Tobin Keller and Dot Woods to investigate, as well as protect Zuwanie when he arrives. Zuwanie's personal head of security, former Dutch mercenary Nils Lud, arrives in New York. Keller, whose estranged wife was killed in a car accident just weeks earlier, learns Sylvia's parents and sister were killed by landmines laid by Zuwanie's men in the past, and that she has dated Xola. Although Keller is suspicious of Silvia's backstory, the two grow close, in part because of their shared grief, and Keller ends up protecting her from attacks.
Philippe calls Silvia to meet and informs her of Xola's death, but lies and says he doesn't know what happened to Simon. Silvia attempts to obtain information by way of Kuman-Kuman, an exiled Matoban minister living in New York, only to almost be killed in a bus bombing perpetrated by Lud's right-hand man, Jean Gamba; Kuman-Kuman, along with a DPD agent, are amongst the dead. The media report that Xola – who no one knows Zuwanie has already had assassinated – is behind the bombing.
Philippe is found dead in his hotel room, and Silvia finds out that Simon was killed along with Xola. She narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by Gamba (whom Keller kills) and leaves a voicemail on Keller's phone saying she's going back home. Keller takes this to mean she's returning to Matobo and dispatches an agent to intercept her at JFK Airport.
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 supporters of his removal. Keller realizes that Silvia returning home means going to the UN, and rushes to the safe room, just in time to prevent her from murdering Zuwanie. Zuwanie is indicted, and Silvia reconciles with Keller before leaving for Matobo.
Cast[]
- Nicole Kidman as Silvia Broome
- Sean Penn as Tobin Keller
- Catherine Keener as Dot Woods, Secret Service
- Jesper Christensen as Nils Lud, Zuwanie's head of security
- Yvan Attal as Philippe, a French family friend of the Broomes
- Michael Wright as Marcus, Matoban consular service
- Earl Cameron as Zuwanie, President of Matobo
- George Harris as Kuman-Kuman, an exiled Matoban minister
- Tsai Chin as Luan, UN interpreter
- Clyde Kusatsu as Police Chief Lee Wu, UN security
- Eric Keenleyside as Rory Robb, UN security
- Christopher Evan Welsh as Jonathan Williams, CIA
- Hugo Speer as Simon Broome
- Maz Jobrani as Mo, Secret Service
- David Zayas as Charlie Russell, Secret Service