Fair Game

Movie: Fair Game

Cast: Naomi Watts, Sean Penn

Genre: docudrama

I saw it on: November 7, 2010

Synopsis: The true story of Valerie Plame (Naomi Watts).  Valerie was a CIA field operative.  Her husband, Joe Wilson (Sean Penn) was the former ambassador to Gabon and is now consultant with expertise in the Africa.  Joe is hired by the CIA to evaluate to probability of Iraq obtaining yellow-cake uranium from Gabon.  He reported that it was nearly impossible.  The CIA/White House did not like his conclusion and ignored it.  When he went public with the fact that the White House statements about uranium being shipped to Iraq were baseless, officials within the White House retaliated by making public the fact that Valerie Plame was a CIA operative – thus ending her career.

Valerie becomes a pariah and along with her husband is characterized as a traitor.  The movie tracks their battle to clear their names.

My two cents: A great movie.  Unless you are one of those who thinks the White House did no wrong under Bush, expect to get really ticked off during this movie.  What was done to Valerie Plame and her husband was unbelievable.  They did no wrong, except to tell the truth.  It serves a good purpose to make sure we don’t forget just how badly – and purposely – the public was mislead by the Bush White House and the CIA. What made this act even more unforgivable is the ripple effect this had on the dozens of foreign operatives working for Plame who were put at risk.  There is little doubt that lives were lost as a result of this action by people in the administration.