Berlin review: Tina Satter’s “Reality”

“Do you have pets?” When the FBI visited Reality Winner’s home in Georgia in June 2017, the agency didn’t exactly start playing hardball; In fact, it took almost an hour get started starting with the 25 year old. We know this because the entire event was recorded and transcribed in a hidden telegram as evidence for the subsequent trial of the winner. New York director Tina Satter adapted this transcript, initially unadorned, into a critically acclaimed play titled is it a room 2019 and beyond realitywhich began in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, expands into a stunningly effective docu-drama hybrid.

Reality Winner’s transgression didn’t quite put her in the league of Edward Snowden or Chelsea Manning, and in a way, Satter’s film borrows from that. Many know the name and perhaps the sulphurous fame that followed her arrest, but most of it reality is the approach. It’s hard to even think of a movie like this; The literal process has been used before – two relatively recent British examples are said to be by Clio Barnard The Pavilion (2010) and that of Rufus Norris London street (2015). But both projects were based on edited interviews; realityinstead, consists of a series of uninterrupted parts, and it is quite remarkable how easily it becomes cinematic.

So what did Reality Winner actually do? If you don’t know exactly or can’t remember exactly, chill because what she says she did and didn’t do – and what the FBI does or doesn’t know – is the quicksand that is the film. to bank In the opening scenes, Winner works as a contract translator in the Pluribus offices, translating sensitive documents from Farsi and Pashto. The winner (played by euphoria‘Sydney Sweeney) returns home to find some strangers outside her house, even as they show her their FBI credentials (she would later claim her underreaction was a case of ‘Resting Bitch Face’). She doesn’t seem to mind ” attributed to. “). These two surprisingly friendly men, Agent Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Agent Taylor (Marchánt Davis) – aka Justin and Wally – have some questions for them, but the FBI search team takes a long time to get down to business.

It goes without saying that the film is about politics, but above all it is a fascinating insight into the intricacies of human interaction. The behavior of the two cops is impeccable and almost absurdly polite, which is quite disturbing in itself, and we see the confusion on Reality’s face as she tries to sort them out. Sweeney is excellent here, in the kind of low-key role that worked well for Julia Garner The assistant, another film about a woman in a man’s world, which this one closely resembles. But so are the agents; Hamilton taps into the warmth and sincerity he brought to Bo Burnham’s father Eighth gradewhile Davis deftly pulls off his role in Chris Morris’s The day will comea wild satire about FBI containment in which he played the prisoner.

Morris, whose jihadist comedy Four lions Loosely inspired by terrorist surveillance tapes, here’s a long comparison since there aren’t any generally comedic moments in it reality, but Satter shares Morris’s interest in the everyday details that such investigations reveal. We hear about Agent Garrick’s sports injuries, learn that Reality carries a pink AR-17, learn that she teaches classes at Yeah Yoga, and lies about her weight on her driver’s license (Real Reality’s Instagram account is often used to reveal this kind of information describe to strengthen and the lines continue to blur). And yes, there Is Pets: Reality’s cat gets some screen time, but for a while her rescue dog is by far the biggest topic of conversation.

Given the premise, it’s probably not a spoiler to say that Satter’s film didn’t come up with a concrete resolution to Winner’s motives, though Fox TV played a role (“You can’t turn on the TV without to anger,” sympathize). Agent Garrick with a surprisingly genuine tone of understanding. However, it draws attention to the concept of preferential treatment and tricks us into believing that wen is being treated with kid gloves like an otherwise sane middle-class young white woman who might just be carried away in a moment of insanity.

However, this film comes at a time in America when the filing of confidential documents seems to be all the rage across the Rep/Dem party lines and when the hammer of “justice” falls on them, as revealed in the credits. reality is a revealing reminder that the only people who Real get preferential treatment are the few rights holders for whom there are apparently no repercussions.