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As the old saying goes, “All’s fair in love and war.” In the years following the September 11 attacks, it seems as though many believed that all was fair in war. And The Report tells the story of one man who was determined to uncover the terrifying truth.
The Report follows Senate staffer Dan Jones (Adam Driver) through five years of investigating the CIA’s post-9/11 Detention and Interrogation Program. After it’s revealed that the CIA destroyed video documentation, Senator Dianne Feinstein (Annette Bening) tasks Jones and a small team with digging through reports and transcripts and documents to uncover the truth about the CIA’s Enhanced Interrogation Techniques. What they uncover is shocking—and they detail it all in a massive report that the CIA and a number of powerful politicians are determined to keep secret.
As Dan and his small team spend long hours digging through files in their windowless basement room in a heavily guarded facility, they uncover facts that are truly disturbing. The film depicts meetings of CIA officers calmly discussing the use of various forms of torture in an attempt to get detainees to open up about names and dates and future attacks. It’s all business—just a bunch of people in suits discussing inhumane treatment of prisoners without batting an eye.
But, of course, it doesn’t end there. Dan’s team digs deeper, examining the reports of the actual techniques used—the sensory deprivation, the water boarding, the humiliation—and the disappointing results. In the process, the film doesn’t hold back in showing the horrors that took place in these secret facilities. It definitely gets its point across—and that often makes it a difficult film to watch.
Eventually, though, Dan’s investigation gives way to the political battles. As he completes his massive report, the film shifts from a dark and disturbing exposé to a political drama. Politicians clash, the CIA pulls strings, and Senator Feinstein comes up against her own political difficulties. While it’s an eye-opening part of the process, though, it doesn’t have the same potency as the beginning of the film. As a result, the tone feels uneven—tense and terrifying in the beginning and rather dry in the end.
The Report tells a disconcerting true story about dark secrets and political cover-ups, but it feels like two different films: a horrifying exposé and a rather tedious political drama. The story is fascinating, but it doesn’t make for an especially balanced, cohesive film.
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