Film	August 28, 08

Uncover the Rogue

By Dan Hudak

As far as political thrillers go, Traitor is pretty good. Too bad nobody will see it.

Not only is it opening on back-to-school weekend (for many) across the country, it’s also an action/suspense piece coming out after a summer that had no shortage of action, visual effects, explosions and various other forms of carnage. And then there’s the subject matter: The box office for terrorist-themed movies has been dreadful (Rendition, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon and Meryl Streep, made less than $10 million), and even good word-of-mouth likely will not lure an audience when the topic is the same as what inundates the nightly news.

That’s a shame, though, because Traitor is worthy of being seen. Don Cheadle (Crash) plays Samir Horn, a former U.S. special operations officer who now lives in the Middle East and supplies terrorists with bombs. He is also a devout Muslim, and is so convincing in his beliefs that his friend Omar (Said Taghmaoui) and other co-conspirators allow him to help plan their terrorist bombings.

Hot on their trail are FBI agents Clayton (Guy Pearce) and Archer (Neal McDonough), two grizzled vets who are partially hamstrung by bureaucratic office politics. They leave no stone unturned as they try to learn more about Samir, including questioning his girlfriend (Archie Panjabi) in Chicago and looking deep into his personal background. Little do they know that as they literally track Samir all over the world, from Yemen to Marseilles to London and more, one of their own (Jeff Daniels) is the only person who knows the truth about their quarry.

Cheadle’s strong performance offers an interesting exploration of Islam, and effectively calls into question the “terrorist” interpretation of the Quran. In one scene, Samir, Omar and their boss, Fareed (Aly Khan), are having dinner. Fareed pours wine and encourages his friends to indulge, citing the Islamic teaching that allows alcohol consumption in times when death is imminent. But Samir balks at the drink, questions Fareed’s interpretation of the reading and disputes that death is imminent, saying that it is only under extreme circumstances that this belief should apply. He ultimately does reluctantly drink, but the scene is intriguing because it shows how closely he’s studied Islam and how his interpretation of it differs from those surrounding him.

This duality is at the core of Traitor in many ways. The answer to the central question of the movie — is Samir secretly working for the United States, or has he gone rogue? — is implied after the opening sequence and then revealed halfway through, although to whom he is actually a traitor, and why, remains somewhat ambiguous.

The movie was written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff, and is based on a story he developed with Steve Martin (Cheaper by the Dozen). Although Nachmanoff doesn’t quite pull off the moral dilemma he attempts to expose at film’s end (especially since Samir certainly knew the risks of his actions), he has crafted an effective suspense thriller that deserves to be seen. Hopefully someone will.