The flavor of the month in true stories of international spying is the whistle blower. Recognizable names like Julian Assange, Mark Felt, Eric Snowden, Daniel Ellsberg become national known figures. Less familiar perhaps is Dan Jones, who reported to Congress about the CIA's use of torture to interrogate prisoners. Adam Driver plays Dan Jones, who endangered his career and likely his own life spending five years writing a mammoth report on the subject of the US CIA's usage so-called "enhanced" interrogation techniques to collect what they hope is strategic intelligence in the Iraq War. The story is all too real. Central to the atrocities is the CIA's investigation of the supposed "science" of interrogation trying to get reliable information from captured enemies. Be warned, the story involves explicit descriptions and graphic depictions of torture. The verbal and visual recreations are as strong as I have encountered in 2019. The issues of the policy are batted back and forth between the agencies of the government. While the film takes effort to help the viewer follow it is powerfully written and right now it stands as one of the best films of a quickly closing year. Rating: +3 (-4 to +4).

					Mark R. Leeper
					Copyright 2019 Mark R. Leeper