Reality
Director: Tina Satter
Year Released: 2023
Rating: 3.0
National Security Agency translator - and Air Force veteran - Reality Leigh Winner (Sydney Sweeney) has her small home in Augusta, Georgia descended on by Agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchánt Davis) from the FBI - along with several other investigators - and is grilled about a classified report she mailed to investigative news site The Intercept regarding possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections. This is based on a real life incident - Ms. Winner was sentenced to five years and three months in prison under the Espionage Act - and the use of (sometimes redacted) recordings lends it a strong sense of authority: the Feds, although confrontational, at least have some degree of compassion and show concern for her two pets, while Sweeney (in a solid performance) goes through all the emotions, from confusion to panic to indignation. It is stagy (due to the circumstances) and unfortunately the "whole story" won't be known for decades, but ask yourself this: if you are truly concerned for your nation's structural well-being, why wouldn't you be alarmed that a rogue power might have been trying to tamper with it? Time will tell....