The Interpreter (2005 film)

The Interpreter is a 2005 political thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack, starring Nicole Kidman, Sean Penn, Catherine Keener, and Jesper Christensen. It was the first film shot inside the United Nations Headquarters, as well as the final feature film directed by Pollack before his death in 2008.

An international co-production between the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and France, the film was released in all three countries in April 2005. It received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $162 million against its $80 million budget.

Plot
In the fictional Southern African country of Matobo, rebel leader Ajene Xola drives two men, Simon Broome and Philippe, to an abandoned stadium. They discuss how President Edmond Zuwanie's regime has ruthlessly exterminated most of the population, and intimidated the survivors into silence. Upon their arrival at the stadium, they find three schoolboys, who point Xola and Simon in the direction of corpses left by Zuwanie's security apparatus, while Philippe stays in the car. When Xola and Simon return to the playing field, they are executed by the boys, who are accomplices of Zuwanie's secret police. Philippe clambers out of the car and hides, taking pictures of a car arriving carrying Zuwanie's lackeys, and then escapes.

Simon's sister, Silvia, works at the United Nations Interpretation Service in New York. A white African born in the United States to a British mother and white Matoban father, she was raised in Matobo, and studied in France. Her diverse background leads to UN Security Chief Lee Wu wryly describing her as "being the UN". The UN is considering indicting Zuwanie, to stand trial in the International Criminal Court. Initially a liberator, over the past 20 years he has become as corrupt and tyrannical as the government he overthrew, and is now responsible for ethnic cleansing. Zuwanie is soon to visit the UN and put forward his own case to the UN General Assembly, in an attempt to avoid the indictment.

A random security scare forces the evacuation of the UN headquarters. When Silvia returns at night to reclaim some personal belongings, she overhears two men discussing an assassination plot in Ku (the Matoban lingua franca). Silvia runs from the building when the men become aware of her presence. The next day, Silvia recognizes words in a meeting, where she is interpreting, from phrases she overheard the night before, and reports the incident to UN security; the plot's target appears to be Zuwanie.

The US Secret Service assigns Dignitary Protection Division (DPD) agents Tobin Keller and Dot Woods to investigate, as well as protect Zuwanie when he arrives. Zuwanie's personal head of security, former Dutch mercenary Nils Lud, arrives in New York. Keller, whose estranged wife was killed in a car accident just weeks earlier, learns in the past Sylvia's parents and sister were killed by landmines laid by Zuwanie's men, and that she has dated Xola. Although Keller is suspicious of Silvia's backstory, the two grow close, in part because of their shared grief, and Keller ends up protecting her from attacks.

Philippe calls Silvia to meet and informs her of Xola's death, but lies and says he doesn't know what happened to Simon. Silvia attempts to obtain information by way of Kuman-Kuman, an exiled Matoban minister living in New York, only to almost be killed in a bus bombing perpetrated by Lud's right-hand man, Jean Gamba; Kuman-Kuman, along with a DPD agent, are amongst the dead. The media report that Xola – who no one knows Zuwanie has already had assassinated – is behind the bombing.

Philippe is found dead in his hotel room, and Silvia finds out that Simon was killed along with Xola. She narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by Gamba (whom Keller kills), and leaves a voicemail on Keller's phone saying she's going back home. Keller takes this to mean she's returning to Matobo, and dispatches an agent to intercept her at JFK Airport.

The purported assassin is discovered and shot to death while Zuwanie is in the middle of his address to the General Assembly, and security personnel rush Zuwanie to a safe room for his protection. Silvia, anticipating this, has been hiding in the safe room, and confronts Zuwanie and intends to kill him herself. Keller determines that the assassination plot is a false flag operation created by Zuwanie to gain credibility that his rivals are terrorists and to deter supporters of his removal. Keller realizes that Silvia returning home means going to the UN, and rushes to the safe room, just in time to prevent her from murdering Zuwanie. Zuwanie is indicted, and Silvia reconciles with Keller before leaving for Matobo.

Production
The Interpreter was shot almost entirely in New York City. The opening sequence was shot in Mozambique with a support crew made up largely of South African nationals. The name Matobo is that of a national park, Matobo National Park (Matopos) in Matabeleland Zimbabwe.

Filming in UN buildings
Parts of The Interpreter were filmed inside the UN General Assembly and Security Council chambers. It was the first film to shoot at the location, with the movie's producers receiving formal permission from the UN in March 2004.

The producers earlier approached the UN about filming there before, but their initial request was turned down. The production would have relocated to Toronto with a constructed set; however, this would have substantially increased costs, and so Sydney Pollack approached then-Secretary-General Kofi Annan directly, and personally negotiated permission to film inside the United Nations. Annan, commenting about the permission for The Interpreter, said that: "… the intention was really to do something dignified, something that is honest and reflects the work that this Organization does. And it is with that spirit that the producers and the directors approached their work, and I hope you will all agree they have done that."

The first scenes at UN Headquarters were shot in early March 2004. Filming took place on weekends, public holidays or nights so as not to disturb the regular work of the UN, and the set was closed to tourists and UN staff.

Ambassadors at the UN had hoped to appear in the film, but actors were asked to play the roles of diplomats. Spain's UN Ambassador Inocencio Arias jokingly complained that his "opportunity to have a nomination for the Oscar next year went away because of some stupid regulation."

Matobo and Ku
The country "Republic of Matobo" and its corresponding constructed language "Ku" were created for this film. The director of the Centre for African Language Learning in Covent Garden, London, England, Said el-Gheithy, was commissioned in January 2004 to create Ku. It is based on Bantu languages spoken in Eastern and Southern Africa, and is a cross between Swahili and Shona, with some unique elements.

In Ku, the film's tagline "The truth requires no translation" is "Angota ho ne njumata".

Matobo and Zimbabwe
The fictional African state of Matobo shares its name with the Matobo National Park in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe. Parallels have been drawn between the movie and the real country of Zimbabwe (which is itself mentioned in the film as an existing country), and between the character of Zuwanie and former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe.


 * Both Mugabe and Zuwanie were once respected freedom-fighters who later became synonymous with corruption and violence.
 * In real life, Robert Mugabe had ruled Zimbabwe for 25 years when the movie was released. The movie's Zuwanie had been in power for 23 years.
 * At the time of the film's release, Australia and New Zealand were pushing for Mugabe to be indicted by the UN Security Council for trial before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity; Zuwanie is indicted by the UN Security Council for trial before the International  Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
 * Both Mugabe and Zuwanie were teachers before being involved with politics.
 * Mugabe tended to wave his fist; Zuwanie his gun.
 * Mugabe's government hired Ari Ben-Menashe, a security consultant and lawyer who claimed to be an ex-Israeli secret service agent, as an advisor and used him to allegedly help frame opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai for treason and for plotting an assassination against Mugabe. Zuwanie is portrayed as arranging for a former Dutch mercenary to arrange an assassination attempt on him to justify using violence against opposition groups.
 * Mugabe had a preoccupation with the British and accuses Tony Blair of trying to unseat him. Zuwanie thinks the French are doing the same.
 * After coming to power, Mugabe was known to have carried out the Gukurahundi, a series of massacres and pogroms against political rivals and civilians from other tribes. Zuwanie also uses his security forces to ethnically cleanse civilians and murder political opponents prompting the UN to investigate his government.
 * Both Matobo and Zimbabwe have a significant white African community of British and European ancestry who once made up the ruling political class of both countries.
 * The flag of Matobo bears a strong resemblance to the flag of Zimbabwe.
 * The film has a scene where there is a demonstration against Zuwanie at the UN; one of the anti-Zuwanie demonstrators is a holding a poster with the open-handed symbol which resembles the logo of the main opposition party in Zimbabwe: the Movement for Democratic Change.

Box office
The Interpreter grossed $72.7million in the United States and Canada, and $90.2million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $162.9million, against a budget of $80million. It opened at No. 1 for its first weekend domestically, spending six weeks in the Top 10 at the box office.

Critical response
Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "Thrillers don't get much smarter than The Interpreter." Todd McCarthy of Variety described it as "Coolly absorbing without being pulse-quickening."

Awards
In 2005, the Los Angeles Film Critics Association awarded Catherine Keener as Best Supporting Actress for her performances in several films, including The Interpreter.

Controversy in Zimbabwe
Upon The Interpreter's release in Zimbabwe, that country's Minister of Information and Publicity, Chen Chimutengwende, accused the film of promoting anti-government propaganda. Chimutengwende claimed that Matobo and the fictional Edmond Zuwanie were thinly veiled caricatures of Zimbabwe and then-President Robert Mugabe, and insisted it was part of an international smear campaign being launched against the Mugabe regime by the United States. Tafataona Mahoso, chairman of the Zimbabwean state's Media and Information Commission, also attacked The Interpreter, claiming it was "typical of US Cold War propaganda". Nevertheless, the Zimbabwe Media Censorship Board found nothing objectionable in the film and approved it for theatrical and video release.