The Report
****
Dir: Scott Z Burns (15, 120 mins)
An intelligent, verbose, fact-based and ultimately gripping political thriller that angrily confronts the CIA’s use of enhanced interrogation techniques in the wake of terrorist attacks, The Report seethes with detail. Adam Driver plays Daniel J. Jones, a staffer at a Senate Investigation Committee forensically searching through millions of pages of reports about dehumanising torture – waterboarding, sleep deprivation – carried out in the name of US security. The investigation lasted over five years and revealed that the CIA had continued with its terrifying tactics aware that they had no real effect or led to reliable intelligence. Driver is the convincing calm centre, highlighting the injustices involved via a scorching script. A superb supporting cast features the excellent Annette Bening as Senator Dianne Feinstein who doggedly evades the truth, Maura Tierney as a flinty CIA executive and Ted Levine’s CIA director John Brennan. A meticulous coruscation of all involved, both in the Bush and Obama administrations, with whip-smart, layered dialogue – and very relevant to today’s still turbulent world and the accountability of its supposed agents of justice.
Opens Sept 20