"The Interpreter" is a politicized cross between "Someone to Watch Over Me" and "The Man Who Knew Too Much" with "The Day of the Jackal." While it doesn't use African genocide as crudely as "Beyond Borders," it is painful to see a fictionalized story when the United Nations is right now doing so little about the horrors in Darfur, Nigeria, etc. It not only gives us a fictional conflict, but a fictional language, traditions and art (we don't get to hear much African music on the soundtrack, fictionalized or otherwise) -- and how many Americans even realize that an intoned list of victims are fictional names? From the opposite perspective, would "Casablanca" have the same resonance if it was within a fictional conflict? One can at least muse about the layers of meaning that could have been possible if Charlize Theron, a genuine white South African, had been cast instead of Nicole Kidman.<br /><br />The climax with the megalomaniac mastermind is just plain foolish, particularly when we've seen how a real mass murderer ends up in "Downfall (Der Untergang)" - devoid of regrets or self-awareness, whereas here complex national politics are reduced to issues of individual actions and consequences.<br /><br />Divorced from any message or politics, this is a respectable thriller. The chase scene in Brooklyn is very effective; I liked the touch of agents tailing different suspects frantically crossing paths.<br /><br />Kidman's and Sean Penn's relationship is refreshingly adult-to-adult and restrained, with Penn's character on automatic as he's emotionally immobilized by grief. Catherine Keener's agent gets the best lines, adding some snap to the ponderousness. It's nice to see NY character actors in small roles throughout.<br /><br />For a big budget film, the cinematography and make-up are distractingly harsh, particularly Penn's pancake shmear in a NYC January vs. Kidman's porcelain doll look; maybe they had lighting restrictions due to their much touted filming actually at the U.N.<br /><br />I'm a fan of Lyle Lovett but I did not get the significance of his "If I Had A Boat" (from the "Pontiac" CD) being Penn's relationship song, let alone that he'd find a bar in NYC that had it on the jukebox.<br /><br />Was it intentional that the last shot of the skyline of New York City only focused on midtown and did not sweep over to the terrorist-caused gap in the lower Manhattan silhouette?