The Report | Film Review

Hey Guys x

Another non-Blogmas review for you, this time in the form of 'The Report', which is an Amazon Prime movie that came out a few days ago. I heard about it quite a while ago and couldn't wait to see it - I finally watched it yesterday.

Daniel Jones (Adam Driver) is an FBI agent tasked with creating a Report based on the CIA's extreme new interrogation techniques used in the aftermath of 9/11 - aptly nicknamed 'The Torture Report'.

I loved this film, and it feels really weird to say that because of the subject matter - the word 'loved' feels too trivial. But nevertheless, I have a lot of positive feelings towards the way that the film handled this subject matter.

I was actually really surprised that this film hadn't been made before now - it seems like an amazing piece of source material that directors were probably clambering to tackle. Not only is it a true story, but it's a story that is so important to history. Whether you know that this happened or not, it's not something that is talked about often. Especially when you look at politics today; it seems like the idea of secrets being held from the general public and lies being told in their place isn't something that we're unfamiliar with.

There are some truly horrific scenes in the film, and I was really glad that these were incorporated into the film, rather than just being told through words. Because as harrowing as it is to hear about something awful happening, it's 10 times worse to actually see these events happening. And I personally think that this was really necessary to allow audiences to fully take in the extremities of the Report.

You don't expect a film with such a heavy subject matter to be so compelling, but even though you have some idea of what will happen (due to the fact that the film was allowed to be made in the first place) you still find yourself unable to stop watching, which is a testament to the direction and writing of the film. Even though the Report in and of itself is so complex, the film makes everything extremely easy to understand.

The film is held up by great performances. Of course Adam Driver is spearheading the film as Daniel Jones and he does an amazing job. But the cast also includes Annette Bening (Dianne Feinstein), Jon Hamm (Denis McDonough) and Tim Blake Nelson (Raymond Nathan) to name just a few of this big ensemble cast, and everyone plays such an important part and, makes this film as good as it is.

Overall, this is an extremely powerful film that makes you think about the future as much as the past. It brings to light things that some people would have preferred to stay in the dark, and is told in a way that will hold your attention and make you think well after the credits roll.

8/10

Lou