First Hit: A strong film shining a light on the United States of America’s illegal torture campaign.
Daniel J. Jones (Adam Driver) wants to be a part of our government, so he meets with Denis McDonough (John Hamm), who is Chief of Staff in the White House. McDonough’s advice is to get involved with a project of importance and make a name for yourself.
Working as a Senate staffer for Senator Diane Feinstein (Annette Bening), he is selected and enthusiastically agrees to investigate the 2005 destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes for her. His life is his work, and he’s dedicated to finding out the truth.
Reviewing online documents, Jones discovers damning evidence that the CIA used “enhanced interrogation techniques” (torture) as promoted by Bruce Jessen (T. Ryder Smith) and James Elmer Mitchell (Douglas Hodge) at secret, “black” (hidden offshore), locations. It appears that the videotapes were destroyed to conceal evidence that the US violated the Geneva Convention rules against torture.
The reason the CIA contracted with Jessen and Mitchell is that they believed they could get information out of captured personnel that would stop future terrorist bombings like 9/11 and maybe apprehend the individuals that instigated 9/11.
In a windowless high-security office in an offsite facility, Jones and 5 others reviewed 6 million pages of CIA materials only to discover that these contractors imprisoned and tortured some 119 detainees and got no valuable information. Their techniques were a total failure.
The move to legalize this program was shown in scenes with White House staff working with John Yoo (Pun Bandhu), who made legal arguments that later were discovered to be unfounded and unsupported.
There are graphic scenes of the torture which aren’t easy to watch, but what really stood out to me was the lack of guts on the part of Senators (including Feinstein) and Congressmen to expose and publicly bring to light our failings and illegal actions. The politicians, who represent us, were mainly worried about being re-elected. Finally, because of political pressure and worries that the information would be leaked to the press, the information is shared with the public.
The film does a great job of intermixing real footage, like John McCain talking about how torture is an anti-American value on the Senate floor, with the story.
Driver is sublime as Jones. His focus and willingness to push all bounds to get the information and get it correct was phenomenal. The film did state that Jones’ full report was some seven-thousand pages long. Bening was excellent as Feinstein as she got her voice and mannerisms down perfectly. However, what disappointed me was how Feinstein seems to play politics for sake of her job instead of getting the truth out. Scott Z. Burns wrote and directed this film with a clear focus of showing how the CIA was exposed and how politics almost keep the facts from US Citizens.
Overall: Although I wasn’t surprised by the actions of the CIA, Senators, and The White House, it’s disappointing to see how we try to hide our horrible and illegal behavior.