Amazon Prime Video

THE REPORT

True-life drama. This austere but compelling film looks at the investigation into the “enhanced interrogation techniques” the CIA employed after 9/11. After the agency destroys interrogation tapes in 2005, US senator Dianne Feinstein (Golden Globe nominee Annette Bening) asks staffer Daniel Jones (Star Wars’ Adam Driver) to lead an inquiry into why this happened. Initially the CIA gives its full cooperation, but as Jones and his team delve deeper, a number of roadblocks are put in their way.

This is essentially a movie about people sitting in an office reading thousands of memos and director Scott Z Burns does little visually to distract you. But when the facts are this shocking, no such razzle-dazzle is needed to hold your attention. While Jones meticulously sifts through the information, flashbacks filmed in a documentary style starkly illustrate the horrific torture used on prisoners by two psychologists who blagged their way into the job with no scientific basis for their tactics.

The Report is somewhat dry and wordy, and you’ll have to concentrate throughout to keep up, but the excellent script and acting from all involved clearly illuminate the complicated chain of events.

A lesser actor would’ve struggled to turn straight arrow Jones into an interesting character, but Driver holds the screen with quiet intensity, while Bening conveys Feinstein’s shrewdness with minimal fuss. Their performances help fuel your moral outrage but also relief that such dogged seekers of the truth exist. 2019. 119 MIN. 16VDLN.