Fey swaps the comedy for adrenaline in Afghanistan
|||Theresa Smith
TINA Fey and Martin Freeman manage to lift this film above merely a mish-mash of a war movie. The film shows how people can get used to just about anything, portraying Kabul as a surreal mix of violence and religious fundamentalism through which floats hard- drinking Western journalists in search of the next big story.
Fey plays it wry and serious, even when things become downright weird, displaying a deft touch and making this film a good showcase for her.
An unintended surrealism around the film is how her character’s personal journey is very orderly. Even when crazy violence is exploding around her, she is still neat and tidy and her experience, even when she inadvertently makes mistakes, makes for good soundbytes. The film might be adapted from a biographical book, but it is a vehicle for Fey to display her skill, rather than a particular story to be told.
She plays low-level tv journalist, Kim Baker, who becomes a war correspondent in Afghanistan during America’s Operation Enduring Freedom. Baker comes to like the adrenalin, outstaying her initial three-month stint by years. Aided by a translator assigned to her, Fahim (Abbott), she finds ways to circumnavigate the restrictions placed upon a woman in a strictly Muslim environment and makes friends with her fellow journalists.
Baker even strikes up a relationship with the lecherous Scottish freelance photographer Iain McKelpie (Freeman believably finds a decent streak somewhere well-hidden beneath the character’s lewdness) and tries to emulate her new friend, Australian television correspondent Tanya (Robbie), who knows how to milk a scene for all it is worth.
But, eventually Baker comes to realise that she is chasing stories to get a bigger adrenalin rush rather than to expose any sort of truth and she starts to question her role and life.
As you start to realise the film is not a comedy, the way the trailer suggests, you start to notice all the stories Baker would like to chase but doesn’t, because they are not the ones that will sell. So, too, the background of the film – life in Afghanistan is a weird mix of contradictions and stereotypically corrupt politicians – is very much a 2D background and not a 3D setting. Any awkward questions about the political situation or the Americans’ presence in the region are neatly glossed over.
The film isn’t going to give you any deep insight into the situation in Afghanistan a decade ago, but Fey’s character undergoes a journey of growth and keeps you focused.
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