Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Marchant Davis and Josh Hamilton
Distributor: Kismet
Runtime: 82 mins. Reviewed in Jun 2023
Reviewer: Peter W Sheehan
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This American drama is directed from a screenplay by Tina Satter and James Paul Davis, and is based on the FBI interrogation transcript of American intelligence whistleblower, Reality Winner.
The movie is based on factual events surrounding the interrogation of a 25-year-old woman –Reality Winner – who served in the US Air Force, and worked as a linguistic contractor for the National Security Agency in Augusta, Georgia. She had high-security clearance.
In early June 2017, two FBI agents (Davis and Hamilton) come to her house and tell Winner they have a warrant to search her house and her belongings. The transcript of conversation involving them (and other agents) forms the basis of the film’s dialogue. Winner is asked about her work, and interrogated specifically about the leak of classified government documents from the US National Security Database to an online publication, The Intercept, which was looking for evidence of Russian interference in US elections. Winner is arrested on 3 June 2017. The documents that she provided to The Intercept ostensibly proved interference by hacking in the 2016 US elections.
Winner initially denies she is a whistleblower, but is shown to be responsible for the leak, and later admits to it. Formally charged under the US Espionage Act, she spent more than four years in jail (originally not due for release until November 2024). The same document that Winner leaks is one that has been used on the floor of the US Senate as evidence of foreign interference.
Winner’s interrogation was turned into a stage production Is this a Room that premiered successfully on Broadway in 2019. This movie is that play, and the script is made up entirely of the actual interrogation transcripts that began on the lawn of Winner’s house in Georgia. Significantly, the Broadway theatre production took place well before the formal expiry date of Winner’s prison sentence.
The movie is largely set in a single room, with no furniture, and it offers a showcase for Sweeney’s depiction of Winner. Because of the restricted nature of the set, the film makes heavy use of close-up photography.
The conversation between the agents and her is as minimalistic as real-life natural conversation can be, and it gives the movie remarkable tension. The smallness of the room mirrors the accusatory nature of the questions being asked, and the verbal interchanges become more stress-inducing, as Winner’s anxiety escalates. The room’s deliberate spareness creates an unnerving quality that pinpoints the seriousness of what unfolds, and accentuates the film’s authenticity.
Winner’s actions were motivated by a desire to help her country; she doesn’t regret what she did; and she accepts the fact that she should be punished for what she has done.
The film has a strong story to tell, and it doesn’t strain for relevance. It shows what occurred. Sweeney gives an outstanding performance as Winner, and the fact-based structure of the film is utterly compelling. This is riveting cinema at the political edge.
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