A devious spymaster, the wary and morally conflicted field operative, the relentless enemy, the high stakes, a larger-than-life plot, the inevitable reach for analogies involving spiders, flies, and webs – the military-espionage thriller gang’s all here, albeit dressed up by Ridley Scott into a gripping, uncompromising, brutal portrait of the global war on terror as fought in the Middle East. Scott’s ability to direct clear action scenes possessed of a visceral, documentary nature – unmuddled by unnecessary cuts and quirky camera angles – strips “Body of Lies” of a superficial exploitative sheen, much like “The Dark Knight” stripped Batman of his comic book-ishness, to deliver a film that entertains without sacrificing its topical integrity.
The film works as a continuation of themes Scott explored in “Kingdom of Heaven,” another study of the collision between the West and Islam in which Scott resists painting with broad strokes of the moral brush. Which isn’t to say that the terror/counter-terror tit-for-tat of the story occurs in a moral vacuum. “Body of Lies” is a very moral film, a morality tale about compromised morality in the pursuit of a greater good that may itself be compromised. But as a rejection of the mindless Islam-bashing that underlies the post-Sept. 11 knee-jerk reaction and misguided embrace of the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive strike, “Body of Lies” embraces ambiguity and elusive answers. Or perhaps not so elusive; Roger Ferris (Di Caprio, who plays it with a similar mettle to his Danny Archer from “Blood Diamond”), the field operative who does all the dirty work, does have a conscience that provides enough of a moral center for the story to avoid reducing itself to a relativistic mess.
A Flirtation With Disbelief
There’s a glimmer of genre plot beneath all the heaviness, the faint traces of clichés such as a risky inter-cultural romance and the inevitable need for the guy doing all the dirty work to find his way out of the game. Arguably, even the portrayal of espionage and counter-terrorism efforts as hopelessly dyed with shades of grey, not to mention explosion-prone, is par for the course in these uncertain times; gone is the glamour of spying for king and country. But within the action pieces and the endless twists of the plots are enough moments, little bits of dialogue and gestures, to give the characters an authentic humanity. Di Caprio is wonderful, as is Russell Crowe in a deliciously oily role as Ferris’ handler Ed Hoffman. Mark Strong as the charming, unfailingly polite and ruthless head of Jordanian intelligence is particularly commanding as an anti-stereotype. Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani rounds out the cast as the nurse who attracts Ferris eye in an understated, graceful performance. When the plot threatens to get ahead of itself, the cast and Scott’s steady hand keeps disbelief in a proper state of suspension.
Entertainment Value: ** (out of two)
Technical Quality: ** (out of two)
Body of Lies. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by William Monahan, based on the novel by David Ignatius. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Russell Crowe, Mark Strong, Golshifteh Farahani, Oscar Isaac and Simon McBurney. 129 minutes. Rated R (strong violence including some torture and for language throughout).
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