Web of lies and spies
By Rama Gaind
DIRECTED by veteran Ridley Scott, ‘Body of Lies’ is a taut thriller which sees Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio as two CIA operatives on different fronts of the counter-terrorism encounters.
Playing out the life-threatening conflicts between DiCaprio, an Arabic speaking field agent in the Middle East, reporting to his Washington handler played by Crowe. Both give great performances. More appealing of the two is the former as hard-working Roger Ferris.
He gets himself involved in a complicated plan to smoke out a Middle Eastern terrorist leader who has been coördinating a series of attacks in Europe.
It’s extraordinary that Ferris is the only one CIA who has any semblance of cultural sensitivity to the nature of the war that’s being fought.
Crowe’s Ed Hoffman, as a CIA honcho who runs running Ferris by cell phone and laptop from the suburbs of Washington, is amazing to behold.
A ruthless Southerner, Hoffman is cordial enough, but for him anti-terrorism has become a calling.
The screenwriter for this tale of lies and spies is William Monahan (‘The Departed’) working from a novel by Washington Post columnist David Ignatius.
Much of the atmosphere and the action of ‘Body of Lies’ is familiar, with the constant change of backdrops from Washington to the Middle East – and other destinations – portraying that violence and deception are the name of the game … everywhere.
