Valerie Plame is an energy
analyst who also works undercover as a CIA agent working on nuclear
non-proliferation. It so happens that her husband Joe Wilson is a former US
diplomat who has personal knowledge of and contacts in the African county of
Niger. When the CIA gets a report that Iraq is trying to purchase 500 tons of
yellowcake uranium for use in developing atomic weapons he is asked to go there
and investigate. There is also a report about aluminum tubes being purchase by
Iraq, but Plame knows these are not the type that can be used in uranium
centrifuges. Wilson travels to Niger and determines that a 500 ton order would
require a 40% increase in production, as well as increased levels of transport
from the mine and since there is no evidence of either, the report is not
true. Plame travels to Cairo, meet the
former head of the Oskirsk reactor in Iraq and gets him to name his colleagues
in Iraq’s nuclear program. Back in the USA Plame meets with a female Iraqi
medical doctor, Hafiz, whose brother,
Hamed was named as a member of the Iraqi nuclear program and persuades her to
return to Iraq to get information about the program from him. Both the National
Seurity advisor and the Vice-President lie on TV about the yellowcake and the
tubes, saying the exact opposite of what the CIA reported. Hafiz visits Iraq
where her brother tells her there is no nuclear program. Plame complains that
the Bush White House is cherry picking data to support its foreign policy
agenda. The President lies in the State of the Union speech. On March 19,
2003[49:05 to 49:28] the Third Gulf War begins with “shock and awe”. Plame makes plans to get Iraqi nuclear
scientists to the USA, so they won’t go to work somewhere else. After Joe
Wilson writes an op-ed for the New York Times exposing Bush’s lies, Scooter
Libby, Vice-President Cheney’s Chief of Staff violates the law and leaks
Valerie Plame’s name to the media.
She’s immediately suspended from the CIA, as her cover is blown. Joe is outraged at this and vows to fight
even though Plame asks him not to. This causes marital strife between them and
Joe’s international business
development and management firm starts losing business when he’s called a
traitor. However, after Scooter Libby is indicted and a talk with her US Air
Force Colonel father Plame decides to fight back also and reconciles with Joe.
She testifies before Congress.
A very good film. Both Watts and
Penn bring a rare intensity to their roles. A movie you must and should
see.
The Iraq War: Strategy,
Tactics and Military Lessons by Anthony H. Corderman (Praeger Publishers,
Westport, CT, 2003) at page 61 gives this date as the war’s start
Producers - Jez Butterworth, Akiva Goldsman, Doug Liman,
Bill Pohlad, Jerry Zucker and Janet Zucker
Director - Doug Liman
Screenplay - Jez Butterworth and John Butterworth
Runtime – 1 hour 48 minutes
Released – May 20, 2010
Starring –
Naomi Watts as Valerie Plame
Sean Penn as Joseph Wilson
Noah Emmerich as Bill
Ty Burrell as Fred
Sam Shepard as Sam Plame
Bruce McGill as James Pavitt
Brooke Smith as Diana
Michael Kelly as Jack
Khaled El Nabawy as Hamed
Anand Tiwari as Hafiz
David Denman as Dave
David Andrews as Scooter Libby
Geoffrey Cantor as
Ari Fleischer
Adam LeFevre as Karl Rove
Nassar as Mr. Tabir
Satya Bhabha as Jason Neal
Copyright by Ivan Walters 2014.
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