Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Patriotism, Faith or Fanaticism?, January 4, 2009
Jeffrey Nachmanoff's "Traitor" is a tense, well-paced thriller that keeps us on the edge of our seat, at the same time aiming for our most visceral and human emotions. It challenges us to consider the border between political and religious extremism and sincere, deeply held patriotism and faith. I was a little surprised that Kennedy Center Honoree Steve Martin, better known for Wild and Crazy comedy, wrote the story Nachmanoff adapted into a taut screenplay.
Don Cheadle should receive an Oscar nomination in the lead role of Samir Horn. Samir is not a one-dimensional character and Cheadle embodies him with a focused yet larger than life performance.
In the opening scene we see a young Samir in Sudan, in a room praying with his devout Muslim father. Then something happens that we have no trouble understanding colors Samirs thoughts and beliefs and motivations for the rest of his life.
We see Samir in modern times dealing sophisticated explosives to an Islamic terrorist group in Yemen. Government agents burst in on the deal, taking Samir and the terrorists into custody. It is implied in Yemen this involves frequent beatings and long imprisonment.
We are introduced to a pair of FBI agents. Max, the hot-headed one is played by Neal McDonough. The thoughtful one, Roy Clayton, is played by Guy Pearce, who grew up in Australia but once again immerses himself in the role of an American so well I had no difficulty believing Roy is the son of a Southern Baptist Minister. (I'm the son of a Roy and a Southern Baptist myself.) Roy is the second most important character in the film. He became interested in Arabic culture in college, and now works for the FBI combating terrorism. Astute and perceptive, he understands that Samir has a sincere muslim belief and is not simply interested in blowing up all things not muslim.
We find later that Samir is deeper still. Jeff Daniels plays Carter, a U.S. Intelligence officer, the only person alive who knows that Samir is a double agent sent to infiltrate a secret Islamic terrorist organization.
Much of the suspense in the film is generated because Carter (and by extension the audience) doesn't know if Samir has "gone to the other side".
Said Taghmaoui plays Omar, a member of the secret terrorist group who brings Samir into the fold, and in another fine wrinkle of the textured screenplay, we get to see many shades of gray even among the terrorists.
The film asks difficult questions and does not imply that there are easy - or any - answers. If you have the most sincere patriotism or faith, how many innocent people can you kill in the name of your country or faith? Fanatics may answer "however many it takes", but Samir and Roy both have doubts, and you believe that their personal faith informs their decisions.
This is a thoughtful thriller and if you're interested in such things - you should see it. The Lord bless and keep you: As-Salamu `Alaikum.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good effort, not quite 'brilliant', February 11, 2010
"Traitor" tries to plow through the viewers' assumed ignorance or lack of understanding when it comes to Islamic terrorists and suggest a more nuanced explanations of motives beyond the simplistic "they want to kill us all" or "unless we don't fight them there will have to fight them here" or "they are going to follow us home and do unspeakable things to our defenseless families". Clearly, we have a much better understanding of terrorists movements such as the nationalist IRA or the various past and present Marxist or Maoist Red Army Brigades than we do of today's super-radical and super-desperate Islamic suiciders. It's difficult to 'get' what motivates young men and women, often well educated and sometimes coming from affluent families to blow themselves up for the dubious (at least to us) reward of taking 'some of us' with them in the process and the few no longer front page newspaper headlines and Tweets. What makes "Traitor" troubling is not its largely successful attempt to show us that there's a lot more than the promise of 72 virgins in Heaven that recruits 'suiciders' but its inability to go beyond hinting at what that might be - to borrow a famous line from 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off'... Anyone? Anyone? The possible explanations provided by dedicated terrorist Omar - who attended finishing school in Switzerland - that tend to come down to 'they killed many of us so we should kill many of them' may be part of the motive, especially when a family member was tortured or imprisoned or lost but individual revenge can't account for a movement and a cause.
With the understanding that "Traitor" is maybe a baby step forward toward an open discussion of what makes 'them' hate 'us' so much and how can 'we' justify us voluntarily surrender so quickly our personal and civil liberties when facing a relatively small threat and in exchange for some largely illusory 'security', it is a tense, generally well acted movie. It's not clear what made Samir, a native of Sudan, join the US Army Special Forces - we see his father dying inside an exploding car but from that to an elite US Army career and then deep cover agent - before or maybe after having fought side by side with the Afghan freedom fighters (now known to us as terrorists) against Russian invaders? Omar, Samir's Islamic Brotherhood terrorist best friend meets him in a Yemeni prison and it's not clear how he ended up there either after completing finishing school in Switzerland. We do hear from Omar that he resents 'the West' for killing and humiliating his brothers and sisters but... from Switzerland to Yemen? Yemen is one of the least likely place to find Westerner targets. The US government agents, especially the FBI, get a more realistic treatment - arrogant, brutal, unable and unwilling to comprehend or adjust to an unfamiliar reality, all too willing to forget about the niceties of actually following our laws when the opportunity to brutalize a US citizen abroad presents itself, sloganeering when there's a need to defend or explain less then honorable activities.
As far as the plot goes, it's the expected spy thriller action movie. People are not always who they say they are, there's a lot of deception, a reasonable body count and, in the end, even though 'our side' seems to get the better of it, poor Samir is left trying to figure out for himself if whatever he did was right or even necessary while under intense bombardment from slogans and clichés thrown at him by Special Agent Roy Clayton.
"Traitor" is not easy to watch. Even hinting at what might be "the other side's" views and motivations tends to make us uncomfortable and, while not really coming close to touching the root causes and motivations for today's Islamic terrorism, it comes close enough to make watching difficult. Sadly, because it only hints at possible causes and motives without fully exposing them, most viewers discussions about what they just watched aren't likely to deviate from the standard, often repeated, short, simplistic, depressing sound bites fed to us by big and loud talking heads that our valuable mass media likes to squeeze between male enhancer pills and diet plan or abs commercials.
Since I watched "Traitor" on a Blu-ray disc, it's probably worth noting that there's little in the image where the Blu would offer a significant advantage over a DVD. The dark subject is appropriately painted on the screen with dark shades of brown, gray and yellow and the viewer attention is likely to focus more on the plot and characters interactions than on the largely non-existent vistas. The same can be said about sound - Dolby TrueHD - it's adequate but this story does not call for tremendous surround sound performances. Explosions, even when they happen, are integrated into the context of the story. The Blu-ray package comes with a second digital copy disk which is quite appropriate because watching the movie on a computer screen should be as good an experience as watching it on a home theater.
I hesitate to recommend "Traitor" as an outright purchase even though the current Blu low price (8.99) should make it tempting. I did buy my copy and I am probably going to keep it. However, if in doubt, you're probably better off renting it and HD vs. DVD resolution won't make a big difference.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
"What Language Do You Dream In?" ~ Faith, Sacrifice And The Greater Jihadi, February 11, 2009
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
The tagline for the '08 film `Traitor' is "The truth is complicated". After viewing the movie I can only compliment the filmmakers for picking such a wise and appropriate phrase to encapsulate what unfolds before its audience. The occidental mind has yet to come to grips with an Islamic mindset that encourages its most fanatical followers to strap explosives to their bodies and detonate themselves in crowded buildings, transportation centers or any high traffic venue that will best unsettle the security of its adversaries. It is "terrorism as theatre" and all the world is its stage.
In `Traitor' Don Cheadle delivers a marvelous performance as Samir a Islamic, Sudanese born American immigrant who after spending years in U.S. military intelligence apparently has a change of conscience and joins an extreme terrorist organization after being recruited by Jihadist and future best friend Omar (Said Taghmaoui). Said is also magnificent, the on-going conversations between Omar and Samir discussing the Jihadist mindset and mission and how they compare with past and present acts of aggression by America are searing, thought-provoking and nuanced. For me they make this movie worth the time and effort. That's not to say that there isn't anything else worthwhile in this film, but it is there relationship and intellectual debate that raises the film to a higher level.
As for the rest of the film, well this isn't one of your typical fast paced action films. The storyline unfolds rather slowly, too slowly at times. But it does build momentum about halfway through will firmly hold your interest to the end. `Traitor' offers the viewer great performances, intellectual stimulation and political relevance. There is in my opinion two flaws that keep the film from receiving a -5 Star- rating. The `Big Moment' at the end is rather unrealistic for reasons I can't discuss without spoiling the surprise and secondly, the ultimate decision made by Samir was a little too black and white for a storyline focused on exploring the gray areas of faith, conscience and choosing sides.
Footnote: Guy Pearce also delivers a stellar performance as the FBI agent pursuing Samir.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192250339_.gif){kind=small}
