Directed and co-written by Tina Satter (her directorial debut) and starring Sydney Sweeney (Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019); The Handmaid's Tale (tv series, 2018); The White Lotus (tv series, 2021)), Josh Hamilton (Manchester By The Sea (2016); The Walking Dead (tv series, 2021-2022); 13 Reasons Why (tv series, 2017-2020)), Marchánt Davis (The Day Shall Come (2019); A Journal for Jordan (2021)) and John Way (Sweet Sunshine (2020)).
Drama; 83 mins; children admitted
With the script taken almost 100% from FBI recordings of when they went to the home of intelligence specialist Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney), this resembles more of a docu-drama.
It tells the story of how Agent Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Agent Taylor (Marchánt Davis), with the support of others including FBI Agent (John Way), arrived at Reality's home after a day at work, and talked with her as her house and car were searched "from top to bottom" to find documents she took from work at a military contractor.
Her backstory unfolds, that she used to be in the US Air Force but left and, with her knowledge of Middle Eastern languages, she now worked for a contractor while still having top secret classification. While she first denied having taken any documents, the agents eventually elicited information that she may well have taken document(s) and sent them on to others to be put in the public domain.
While she stated that she did now want to be a whistle-blower like Edward Snowden, it was interesting that in the initial scene at her office desk, Fox News was being broadcast on televisions on the walls of her open-plan office, focussing on what was then happening regarding US President Donald Trump.
However, the allegations are serious as they referred to the unauthorised release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections.
Currently being screened at Ciné Utopia.
