Nothing but the Truth 2008

     Political columnist Rachel Armstrong writes that the President ignored the findings of a covert CIA operative and ordered air strikes against Venezuela.  Rachel names the agent, Erica Van Doren.  She is a woman with young daughter in Rachel’s son’s class at school.  Rachel is hoping to be awarded a Pulitzer Prize for this article.  The government moves quickly to force Rachel to name her source.  She is jailed for contempt when she refuses.  The days in jail begin to add up because Rachel won’t change her mind about revealing her source.  Chaos begins to descend on Erica Van Doren’s life.  There is the First Amendment right but there is also national security.  There is marriage and motherhood but also separation.  What is the real value of a principle?

     This is a fictionalized retelling of the outing of a CIA agent.  The reporter writing the story takes a stand about freedom of speech.  She doesn’t cave in to the efforts by the government to make her reveal who told her about these events.  Freedom of the press is crucial and reporters must have the right to tell the truth to the public.  It doesn’t matter if the material contains classified information if the subject has enough importance.  The sources leaking the classified information have broken the law and not the reporter of the news.  But, since 9/11 national security wins over the First Amendment every time.  There is some strong language, a jail inmate beats another inmate, there is cigarette smoking and drinking alcohol, a woman is killed in front of her house, a husband cheats on his wife, a woman is separated from her child.  5* (I really liked this movie)
       
108 min, Crime directed and written by Rod Lurie with Kate Beckinsale, Matt Dillon, Angela Bassett, Alan Alda, Vera Farmiga, David Schwimmer, Courtney B. Vance, Noah Wyle, Floyd Abrams, Preston Bailey, Kristen Bouogh, Julie Ann Emery, Robert Harvey, Michael O’Neill, Kristen Shaw.

Note:  Imdb 7.2 out of 10 with 35,024 views, Roger Ebert 3 1/2*, Rotten Tomatoes 82% with 60 critics 73% audience with 12,769 ratings, Amazon 4.1* out of 5* with 173ratings, Common Sense Media Barbara Shulgasser-Parker, age 14+ 3* out of 5*, 3* positive, 3* role models, 3* violence, 2* sex, 4* language, 1* drinking, drugs & smoking, Rolling Stone 3* out of 4* Peter Travers. 

Special Note:  There is a scene where Erica Van Doren is given a lie detector test.  The CIA believes that she leaked her own identity.  The test proves that Erica is telling the truth about not leaking her identity.  There is a comment afterwards that it would be possible for a CIA agent to be trained to lie and not be detected by the machine?  This film loosely follows the real-life drama of former CIA agent Valerie Plame.  There is a film about Valerie titled Fair Game in 2010 with Naomi Watts in the role of Valerie.  Floyd Abrams plays the judge in this film and he is also credited as a technical advisor.  In real life Abrams is an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).  Filmed in Memphis and Shelby County, Tennessee; Los Angeles National Cemetery, Los Angeles, California.