One day in 2017, military contractor Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney) returns home to find two strange men waiting for her.
The two men are FBI agents, and they want to know what Reality knows about a leaked document…
Based on the transcript of whistleblower Reality Winner’s arrest and initial interrogation by the FBI after she leaked a document on Russian attempts to hack the 2016 US election, Reality is a neat little pressure cooker of a movie.
I have not seen Is This A Room. I was not aware it existed before watching this movie.
A lot of people are still reckoning with the Trump presidency.
Because he is still at the heart of American politics it is difficult to treat his term with a real appraisal, particularly if he returns to the presidency. Still, watching Reality, I was reminded of those early days, particularly following the election and into his first months.
The never-ending string of controversies, news coverage and how emotionally draining it all felt. I remember being terminally online, following every detail. It was a perpetual state of despair that affected me. I look back on my reviews from that period and wonder how I would feel about these movies.
Reality feels like it captures a little of the vibe of that time: the way the agents attempt to act as though everything is normal, and their meeting is nothing out of the ordinary. Reality is trapped into a situation that she cannot get out of.
For a movie about words, Reality never feels like a play.
Satter keeps the camera close, allowing close-ups of her cast to fill in all the subtext and innuendo. Sweeney is excellent in the title role - slowly revealing a steel and wry self-awareness as she is cornered.
This movie is a duel where the winner is never in doubt - it is going to be a slow dance as the agents pick apart Reality's story.
It is terrifying watching the way her interrogators awkwardly try to maintain a front of affability, even as their questioning becomes more pointed.
A solid little thriller.
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