By: debbie lynn elias
Anytime I see a project that has Rod Lurie attached, I can’t get to a screening fast enough. His writing is always intelligent, decisive, thought provoking, timely and topical, with a story that embraces integrity, ethics, morals and social conscience. His direction is always with military crispness, sharp and clean. His casting choices are impeccable and his characters well crafted, multi-textural, fractured human beings that have a fire about them that draws one as a viewer ever deeper into the story and the film. With “The Last Castle”, I was beyond impressed as Lurie drove me to tears with the passion and conviction of the story. With “Resurrecting the Champ” he again brought a compelling human drama to the scene with a meticulously executed essence and vibrancy. But now, he attains even greater heights with the riveting NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH. Championing justice and the high price of integrity, conviction and principle, hetakes a page from today’s headlines and makes it his own.
Rachel Armstrong is a top notch political reporter for D.C.’s Capitol Sun-Times. Always looking for that Pulitzer Price winning work, Rachel knows a story may be lurking around any corner, in any coffee shop, at any gathering; one just has to keep their eyes and ears open. And one such story just happens Rachel’s way following an assassination attempt on the U.S. President. Going with a hunch that something isn’t quite right about the assassination attempt, Rachel’s senses go on the alert, particularly when the U.S. launches a military attack on Venezuela under the guise that an unidentified Venezuelan leader was the mastermind of the assassination attempt. No evidence is ever produced to support the attack yet the government runs with it. However, Rachel soon learns that undercover CIA operative Erica van Doren was in Venezuela and reported back that no one in the Venezuelan government was a party to the assassination attempt. Not one to let something this hot sit on the back burner, with full support of her editor, Rachel breaks the story and exposes Van Doren, not an easy thing to do with a covert operative. But it certainly does help when your children go to the same school and you are both “homeroom mothers,” and under the guise of parental bonding on a soccer field, anything is possible. Making the situation more volatile, Van Doren’s husband, the former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela resigns from his position with the government when the story breaks, not to mention leaving his wife for her “transgression” of being outed.
Van Doren’s life is ripped apart at the seams and she desperately fights to protect her life, her own integrity and veracity, not to mention that of her daughter. But as if Van Doren’s life isn’t bad enough, Rachel’s life gets turned upside down when Special Prosecutor Patton Dubois is assigned to the case as a means to make Rachel disclose her source. Strong and determined to protect her source and her First Amendment rights, with the support of her editor in chief, as well as her mealy mouthed husband and a hot under the collar in-house attorney for the newspaper, Rachel fights Dubois tooth and nail. Unfortunately that fight costs her, her freedom when she is found in contempt of Court and sentenced to jail by U.S. District Court Judge Hall. Standing fast to her principles and determined not to reveal her source, her own ethics and integrity are her own worst enemy as time passes and sitting in jail, she watches her marriage fall apart, her son get a few years older and eventually has what seems like only one person in her corner, attorney Albert Burnside, a man who pleads Rachel’s case all the way to the Supreme Court begging the question, who is Rachel’s source and why is she so determined and committed to sacrifice so much to protect it?
Kate Beckinsale is mesmerizing as Rachel Armstrong. A physically demanding role given the intense prison sequences, her physicality pales in comparison to the emotional intensity and strength she puts forth on screen. Like a caged animal, she calculates every move, every action, every reaction with an internal ferocity that ignites every scene. Equally amazing is Vera Farmiga as Erica Van Doren. Having just seen Farmiga as a devoted loving WWII mother in “The Boy In The Striped Pajamas”, I was blown away by her tough as nails, hard core performance as Van Doren which she balanced with a carefully toned maternal edge; an act equaling that of Beckinsale’s maternal double edged sword.
As if the women aren’t reason enough to be on the edge of your seat with Lurie’s taut script, enter Noah Wylie, Matt Dillon and Alan Alda. Noah Wylie was a surprise casting choice as Avril Aaronson but he is a completely neurotic firey self-involved frenetic attorney – to a tee. But then toss in a little taste of a legal oil slick in the form of Matt Dillon as prosecutor Patton Dubois and the ante is upped exponentially. As Dubois, Dillon brings new levels of arrogance and self-importance to the perception of attorneys (and trust me, many are very arrogant) which sparks dynamic chemistry between he and Beckinsale. And then there’s Alan Alda. Always a welcome addition to any film, and particularly a Rod Lurie film, Alda is the voice of reason, the conscience of the film. He gives reasoned voice to the character of Rachel and never moreso than in one of the most impassioned and empowered monologues addressing the Supreme Court. That exquisitely written argument and Alda’s delivery is phenomenal. It is the social conscience and fundamental essence of the film. Powerful and priceless, it’s eloquence defies description.
Lurie himself even says, “I think Kate is just fantastic in the film, as is Vera and Alan. “
For me, a real coup was the casting of one of the seminal First Amendment attorneys in the United States, Floyd Abrams, who stepped in not only to play Judge Hall, but he also served as technical advisor on the film. Sometimes he would stop in the middle of the shoot and say ‘this is wrong’ to which Lurie would tell him, ‘You’re playing it, play it right.”
Rod Lurie is no different than any other journalist. His ideas from a wealth of places. For NBTT, “I had this tv series called ‘Commander in Chief’ and I had this idea about a reporter that writes a book about Geena Davis’ character. There’s all sorts of classified information there. So they send him to jail for not revealing his sources and the twist was going to be that Geena Davis was going to pardon him because even though it was bad stuff written about her [character], this country will thrown its journalists into jail when it shouldn’t. I really loved this concept. I was a journalist. I think it’s an unbelievably noble profession when done properly and I think it’s noble to go to jail to protect a source. It’s very principled.” But then life stepped in imitating Lurie’s idea and while this is by no means Judy Miller’s story, it is a similar circumstance. “I started wondering what if the reporter had kids and the CIA agent had kids.”
The meticulous detail of the written structure is equaled by Lurie’s fine tuned direction. Metaphorically addressing the issues of the film through light and texture, the visual aspect of the film is as interesting as the dialogue. What strikes me most, however, is the intricately woven clues that lead up to the surprise climactic ending where we finally do learn the answers to Rachel’s personal convictions. It will blow your mind.
Intelligently written. Potent performances. Superlative gripping story. A principled film that speaks soberly and passionately about standing up for one’s principles; be it a soccer mom, CIA agent or reporter. When all is said and done there is NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH.
Rachel Armstrong – Kate Beckinsale Erica Van Doren – Vera Farmiga Albert Burnside – Alan Alda Patton Dubois – Matt Dillon
Written and directed by Rod Lurie.
