Customer Reviews

Five Fingers

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a suspenseful, "what is going on," "who should we believe" 2006 film. A young man who says he is from Holland is in love with a young woman who says she is from Morocco. The man leaves the woman in the US and flies to Morocco saying he is going to help feed the starving people there. He is accompanied by a guide. He and the guide are kidnapped by people dressed as Muslims. He is drugged. He wakes tied up, not knowing where he is, and sees the guide killed for making insulting remarks about Muslims. Laurence Fishburne plays the Muslim leader, but is he? He insists that the man knows certain things and wants him to tell what they are. But what are these things? Who really is the young man? Is his girl friend involved? Who is behind Fishburne? What is he really trying to find out? Why is it so important that he cuts off four of the man's fingers? The man put one million dollars in his bank account. Where did he get the money? What is it for? There is a surprise ending to this suspenseful tale.

MARTIJN (Ryan Phillippe), a Dutch pianist and friend, travels to Morocco to help start a food program for malnourished children or so he says. Within moments of his arrival Martijn and his friend are abducted on a bus by a group of terrorists, only one of them is injected with a drug, but both are imprisoned. Do you see the mystery forming already? Under threat of death, Martinj engages in a mental chess match with AHMAT (Laurence Fishburne), trying to learn his captor's true objective and avoid death. When he fails to answer the questions that his captors are asking, they begin to cut off his fingers. Since he plays piano this is very significant. The captors seem to know all about him. How do they know so much? Is it the beautiful mysterious girlfriend that he left at home? To add to the thrill and mystery of the movie Gina Torres (Fishburne's wife in real life) enters and gives an award winning performance. First she appears to sympathize with Martijn, but then she flips and is working with Ahmat. After intense interrogation, Martijn decides to give in and writes down some information on a piece of paper. I am still in the dark because the movie ended with me not knowing if he really knew nothing or did he really know something? I enjoyed the movie. The characters were very convincing and memorable. There are several unpredictable things that happen at the end. But the one thing that did not happen was to reveal to me why he was abducted and if he was a case of mistaken identity. I searched on the internet for a revelation to the ending and found none. So kudos to the writer for such mystery in a movie. How do I feel? FRUSTRATED!

Once again Ryan Phillippe puts out another outstanding performance. A little different to his usual this time with less of the action but the mind games and ending plot certainly make up for that

You get the funds to begin a "food for the poor" program in Morocco. Within hours of arrival, you are kidnapped, and transported to an unknown location.

Then, the interrogation begins, one finger at a time. Take note of the name of the movie. Oh, and did I mention that one of your hobbies is as a jazz pianist?

Ninety percent of this movie occurs with the kidnapped victim chained to a chair, with the action being the "banter" that occurs between victim and interrogator (Laurence Fishburne). The strength of the movie is in its pointed brutality, the projection of helplessness of the victim, and finally the "what the..." twist at the end.

Not an uplifting film, but what do you expect when the theme is torture and terrorism?

If you want to see the types of animals that are trying to destroy civilization, here it is.

This movie is all acting, it could have been filmed on a high school stage like some of the old Bogart movies.

Not for the squeamish. You may want to eat an hour before the movie.

What would Eric Holder say?

The negative reviews made me skeptical. But the film turned out to have excellent acting and dialogue. It is all about mind games during a torture interrogation of a young Dutch lefty. Are the interrogators CIA trying to trick the guy into giving up his collaborators? They eventually drop the mystery stance and claim to be on the rebel side that he eventually claims to be on or admits to be on as the case might be. But they want him to convince them that he is really one of them by telling everything he knows. He either does not want to do that because he does not completely trust them, or he cannot as the case might be because maybe he really is lying and working for the CIA and cannot.

There are only two probable outcomes. Either they are really CIA and he should not trust his kidnappers, or he is really CIA and does not know all the people in the cell in the Netherlands. So if all the viewers guess randomly, like flip a coin, half will be right! FYI, I guessed right.

But the outcome is not so important actually to appreciation of the film as film. What is important is that the acting is very good and gripping and as details come out during the mind games and torture you want to go back and think how previous details might fit or not, and you are inspired to reinterpret some. It is a good thinking person's film. Like some of my most admired spy films.I want to watch it again even though I know the outcome. It would be like studying the moves in classic chess games, which I used to do when younger.

In terms of political relevance, yeah this is probably timely in a way. There is some nasty stuff going on out there in the world on the dark side of empire building and anger at it, including torture. And the passion and commitment on the various sides can be argued. But this is not really anything new. The political statement is not the reason that this is a fine film. But the political implications are at least provocative and may be instructive for some viewers.

The making-of feature on the DVD is not great, but it is better than the average making-of which tends to be insulting to one's intelligence and a waste of time unless you happen to be star-struck.

Five fingers refers to the fact that his passion is playing the piano and they cut off his fingers brutally one by one to turn up the heat on him as the interrogation proceeds. But this is not gratuitous gore. It is so cruel on their part and such a sacrifice on his part that even his captors (whoever they are) come to admire his courage and passion, whether he is CIA and passionately loyal to America, or a real left-wing activist who is completely determined to bring down the ruling global order. The point is well made that there is enormous passion and motivation on both sides out there on the battle lines. I think well crafted spy films often make this sort of point, but not in such a viscerally convincing and memorable way. It is such an obvious point that it is easy to say at the level of words. But making this point in convincingly human terms is very well done in this film. Exceptionally well done in my opinion.

While traveling to Morocco to initiate a food program of his own to help poor kids, the Dutch Martijn is kidnapped by a group of terrorists and his guide Gavin is executed in cold blood in front of him. Along the days, Martijn is tortured by a Muslin man and Aicha and looses four fingers. In the end, the truth about his travel is finally disclosed. Fishburne and Phillipe as the two main characters locked in a battle of mind and will power turn in an excellent performance, as do the supporting characters. The story starts swiftly and almost from the beginning the tension is notched up, and with each twist and turn the movie continues to question who really is the good guy in all of this, if indeed there could be one. A real psychological treat if you just enjoy it.

This movie is both scary and touching. Very sad... very eye-opening. The acting is superb! Hats off to all actors involved with this film!

Five Fingers This film held my attention during it's entire length. Ryan Phillippe, as Martin abducted by terrists, turns in a great performance as a torture victim. Laurence Fishburne, the terrorist, also turns in a stellar job as the torturer. My attention was glued to the screen as the story unfolded. A surprise ending will keep you thinking about Five Fingers for a long time. One of a kind.

If you've find the typical cliched stereotypic Hollywood international intrigue thrillers palatable then this film will be an uncomfortable experience as it plays it's violent game of chess with your sensibilities. How plausible are the events portrayed - well any reader of historical accounts and biographical exposes of terrorist and counterterrorist activities would attest that this story for some situations is "spot-on".
Kudos to the superb performances by the actors; the homework from the writers and visual flow of the film from the director despite a low budget.