Reality Winner
This movie may have run under your radar. Available on Amazon prime it stars Sydney Sweeney as whistleblowing NSA translator Reality Winner. The movie is simmering throughout, never actually coming to a boil. It hooks you in and you can't stop watching. The movie takes place entirely in Reality's home, and the third part exclusively in her abandoned spare room. The room serves as a perfect blank canvas as we watch Reality being interrogated by two CIA agents.
The two agents in question, seem like dimwits at the start of the encounter, but as the movie progresses you realise that they are more astute than they seem. Slowly the tangle Reality in their web, so at the end of the interview she has incriminated herself. You find yourself shouting at the screen, imploring Reality to stop talking and ask for a lawyer. But by then it's too late, Marchánt Davis, as agent Taylor, has already lined up Reality where he wants her, he was just waiting for the right moment to pounce.
Sydney Sweeneys understated portray of Reality holds your attention. Her nervous glances and unconscious fidgeting, make you sympathetic to Reality as she willingly cooperates with all requests made by the team of agents. The show brings out tension where you would not expect, from Reality trying to get the cat out of from underneath her bed as the agents search for her guns, to Agent Taylors disconcerting concern for Reality's dog. The glitching of the characters as they come to blacked out parts of the audio recording that the movie is based on, also adds to the tension and high stakes.
Right until she confesses to the crime, you still believe Reality is innocent, so deft is Syndey's’ portrayal. Guilty she is of course, and the agents manage to get every little detail out of her of how she managed to sneak classified documents out of the NSA building.
A young woman who thought she was doing the best for her country, and whose evidence shed a light on the governments' incompetence, ends up spending five years in federal jail. The movie brings a light to her bravery and the injustice she was served.
