Body of Lies (Widescreen Edition)

Great plot with great acting by everyone and alot of action. Russell and Leo were very good in this film and played well off each other. Would definitely recommend it to anyone especially if you liked the movie spy game then you'll like this movie as well.

This movie is based on the novel of the same name by David Ignatius, Editorial Colmnist for The Washington Post.Mr. Ignatius recently posted a column about the passing of the real-life spy, Gen. Saad Kheir, on whom he based the character 'Hani Pasha,' played by British actor Mark Strong in the movie.Mr. Ignatius wrote:Jordan's ace of spiesBy David IgnatiusSunday, December 13, 2009When the spy movie ends, the suave intelligence chief -- having outsmarted his enemies -- dusts off the lapels of his perfectly tailored suit and disappears into his world of illusion and control.That's not how it ended in real life, alas, for Gen. Saad Kheir, the brilliant but emotionally wounded spymaster who headed Jordan's General Intelligence Department (GID) from 2000 to 2005. He died in a hotel room in Vienna on Wednesday of a heart attack, the official Jordanian news agency reported. He was just 56.Kheir at his best was among the greatest Arab intelligence officers of his generation. He ran a series of masterful penetration operations against Palestinian extremist groups and, later, al-Qaeda. "He set the standard for how we do it," said one former CIA officer who worked closely with him.I got to know Kheir five years ago when I was researching a novel about the Middle East called "Body of Lies," which was later made into a movie that starred Leonardo DiCaprio. Kheir was the model for my fictional Jordanian intelligence chief, "Hani Salaam." Like all GID chiefs, Kheir was addressed by the Ottoman honorific of "pasha," so I gave the sobriquet of "Hani Pasha" to my fictional version.Hani Pasha (played in the movie by British actor Mark Strong) stole the show, and for a simple reason -- he was based on a true master of the game. My character's tradecraft, manners, even his wardrobe were all modeled on those of the real pasha.It was George Tenet, then director of the CIA, who first described to me Kheir's brilliance as an operator. I asked Tenet in 2003 if any foreign intelligence services had been especially helpful against al-Qaeda, and he answered instantly, "The Jordanians," and continued with Tenetian enthusiasm, "Their guy Saad Kheir is a superstar!"So the next time I was in Amman, I asked the royal palace if I could meet the legendary intelligence chief, and it was duly arranged. I was driven to the GID's fearsome headquarters, past its black flag bearing the ominous warning in Arabic "Justice Has Come" and escorted upstairs to the pasha's office.Kheir had a rough, boozy charm -- somewhere between Humphrey Bogart and Omar Sharif. He was dressed elegantly, as always -- in this case, a cashmere blazer, a knit tie and a pair of what looked to be handmade English shoes.The pasha told me a few stories, and others filled in the details: He made his name penetrating Palestinian extremist groups, such as the Abu Nidal organization. Once he had burrowed into the terrorists' lair, he was able to plant rumors and disinformation that set the group's members fighting among themselves. Before long, Abu Nidal's fraternity of killers had imploded in a frenzy of suspicion and self-destruction. I stole that idea for "Body of Lies."Kheir researched his targets so thoroughly that he got inside their lives. A former CIA officer told me about one sublime pitch: Kheir tracked a jihadist to an apartment in Eastern Europe and handed him a cellphone, saying: "Talk to your mother." The man's mom was actually on the line, telling him he was a wonderful son for buying her a new TV and a couch and sending her money. "The spoken message was, 'We can do good things for you.' The unspoken message was, 'We can hurt you,' " explained the CIA officer. I took that scene, too, verbatim.Like many Arab intelligence services, the GID has a reputation for using brutal interrogation methods, and I'm sure that it didn't get the nickname "the fingernail factory" for nothing. But Kheir's successes in interrogation often came from a different kind of intimidation. Colleagues recall him standing behind a suspect, his voice deep with menace, as he talked of the suspect's family, friends and contacts. That was much scarier than physical violence would have been. He waited for them to break themselves, and it usually worked.Kheir ran afoul of his boss, King Abdullah, when he began pushing into politics and business. It was the classic overreach of intelligence chiefs in the Middle East, and he was sacked in 2005. His dismissal took a cruel toll: Kheir could be seen carousing late at night at his favorite restaurant in Amman, no longer a master of the universe or even, fully, master of himself. But in his prime, he was a genius, and it's hard to think of a foreigner who helped save more American lives than Saad Pasha.

Great movie. In depth. Reasonable.

Cold War over since 1990. Behind the Iron Curtain scenarios out of date. There is no more Iron Curtain (so labelled first by Winston Churchill in 1946). This is Arab Terrorism vs. the CIA and its Arab allies and enemies. Nobody is to be trusted. Not only hidden political sympathies but also personal ambition can turn an apparent friend into an enemy, and enemy to friend. This is one fine picture of the many that are coming off the assembly line to fit the new circumstances, circumstances which can never fully be understood by those involved with them much less the casual onlooker. I don't have anything resembling an understanding of the multiple political, religious, social, economic revolutions rocking the Muslim world, a vast territory stretching from the shores of Spain (once under Moorish domination) to the islands of Indonesia. So I can enjoy, as I did this movie, this Entertainment (in Graham Greene's word) without trying to judge how close it comes to any reality. It possesses a fiction's reality, one that can be accepted for the duration of the movie, and that is all that matters. Aside from a tight script and exotic (though not romantic) settings, it does have budding love which serves to create the coda for the film. I probably have seen the two stars in a few things but have no memory of what they were; here, they contribute an admirable quality to the proceedings. Possibly, Crowe overdoes his role of the cynical "Chief" under whom Agent DiCaprio serves. I think, however, it was what the film's creators wanted to say with that role. Supporting players were quite good, with the young woman playing DiCaprio's friend conveying an air of experienced innocence which was fitting to the role.Action and drama fans should take to the movie, the squeamish will only have a few minutes of brutality, for the rest, it is the Old Spy Game. If you like that type of film, you should like this one. (As a footnote, one hopes that we do not, once more, fall into the trap of suspecting all Muslims or Arabs living in the West of nefarious behavior or support of it.)

As you have probably gathered from previous reviews, I am a huge fan of Sir Ridley Scott's work. To not sounds so pompous and snobbish, I will simply call it Ridley's movie and use this term for any one other of his ample repertoire when I review it. Ridley has always had a tendency to present difficult topics from a different perspective. This is a serious movie and you may want to watch it, pausing from time to time, to really get his message. On the one hand, there is a plot, one the other there is a message in the story as well as the notion that there is an 'eye' that sees it all. Russell Crowe and Leo DiCaprio team up well in this movie. This is not a movie to watch is if you are tired, exhausted or in a bad mood; or if you are deeply well educated in the affairs of the country selected for this movie. It is shocking, Ridley likes to cause shock as his stories unfold; it is strange too as Ridley likes an element of surprise. Is it all true? Perhaps an interpretation or some parts of it may be based on real situations but I had to pause several times the first, second and third time I watched this one. There is a team of quite experienced actors playing secondary roles and one does have to pay attention as the movie unfolds. Check it out if you want but do so when you are calm and your heart is not too imbued in international affairs. Otherwise you may not like it. You have been warned. Now, give it a go.

Body of Lies. One of Ridley Scott's best films. Performances are very good

good tense thriller

Great entertainment. Just as was advised. Very good quality. Delievered as expected.

quite good

Ridley Scott signe avec Mensonges d'Etat sa réalisation la plus proche de son défunt frère Tony Scott.Un agent de la CIA, infiltré au Moyen Orient et incarné par Leonardo Di Caprio, a pour objectif de faire tomber un leader terroriste.Son supérieur hiérarchique suit une grande partie de l'action confortablement installé dans son fauteuil (énorme Russel Crowe dans tous les sens du terme) et enfin il y a le chef des services de renseignement Jordanien interprété par un Mark Strong impeccable qui vole totalement la vedette à Leornado chaque fois qu'il apparait à l'écran.Di Caprio va se retrouver manipuler par tout le monde dans des pays hostiles à l'influence Américaine. Il ne faut pas s'attendre à des grosses scènes d'action mais plutôt à un thriller psychologique.Le casting est impeccable, la direction photographique est très belle, mais le propos peut paraitre confus pour ceux qui ne s'intéressent pas vraiment à l'actualité internationale.Bien que Ridley Scott cherche à montrer au spectateur qu'aucun camp ne vaut mieux qu'un autre, il y a malgré tout un parti pris Américain assez prononcé.Je peux comprendre les critiques qu'il a subi à sa sortie en 2008 mais je trouve l'ensemble suffisamment bien filmé et distrayant.