Incredibly, Liman was the only filmmaker to tackle the Valerie Plame scandal, wherein a deep cover CIA agent (Naomi Watts) was revealed following the publication of an Op-Ed in the New York Times, wherein the categorically false pretext for the Iraq invasion was laid bare. It’s a thrilling real life tale, made all the more gripping by Liman’s decision to shoot and edit the movie like one of his big budget spy adventures.
At its heart, though, “Fair Game” remains one of the filmmaker’s most sensitive and deeply felt works, as he watches Plame’s marriage (Sean Penn is her husband) creak and moan under the stress of the scandal. For these two, the personal very much is the political.
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