The Interpreter by Sydney Pollak:
The film is about a woman who's working at the UN as an interpreter: she is the little voice that translates a lot of languages into one, in her case English. The main carachter, Silvia Broom was learning the flute but she forgets once her flute in her office at the UN. As she went there she listens to two man who where speaking in an African language named Ku. They talk about a rebellion and a plan to kill the president of a country named Matobo, invented by the film makers.
The man who's suposed to leave a speach is named Edmund Zuwanie, who's considered to be trailed for ethnic cleansing in front of the Internacional Criminal Court, the liberator and that dictator of Matobo. During the film we get to know that Matobo is a conflictous region where 3 man are struggeling for the power: Edmund Zuwanie, Kuman-Kuman a business man and Ajene Xola a pacifist. Zuwanie as well as Kuman- Kuman were at the same time in New York, both for speaches.
The thing is that in Matobo is a rebelion in order to safe the country.
Silvia, searching for her flute but, was seen and since then followed by the man in the UN speaching room. The man who follows her, also from Matobo starts with researches to find her but Silvia get help from the secret service, specially from a Tobin Keller who works for the secret service and who lost his wife two weeks ago. He first thinks she lies but then realizes that she's telling the truth so he starts with an observation together with other memebers of the secret service. Silvia menawhile tries to contact with a man called Philippe, and olf friend of her. We get also revealed by the time that Silvia was born in Matobo and that actully took part of a militant movement with Ajene Xola, with who she felt in love. After she finds Philippe and meets him at a park, he reveals that Xola died. Silvia also wants to know what happend with her brother, the only living memeber of her family but Pihilippe don't wants to say nothing. The thing is that Silvia contacts with Kuman Kuman telling him that he's the man who wants to ruin Matobo. He tells her than that this isn't true and that he wants a coalision with Xola in order to fight Zuwanies regime and if he's really dead it wouldn't be good for him either. At that moment, the man who was following Silvia all the film arpund enters in the same bus than she is with a bomb. Silvia gets out the bus before the bomb explodes but a secret service memeber as well as Kuman-Kuman die on the terroristic attempt.
Silvia gets deeply frsutrated and depressed after Keller tells her that he had lost one of his man there and they start to getting closer. The target of the plot organized by the ku speaking man in the UN seems tu be Zuwanie so Keller must do what he can in order to prevent this. Silvia than explains what she knows, what happend in Africa years ago and whos Simon, her brother. Things happend fastly and from one they to another they found Silvias friend Philippe the photographer suicided at his hotel room. his bag is still there with notebooks and things from here brother. After a while Silvia gets the bag with card in it, which Keller for national security reasons already had readen. Philippe tells in the card that he wasn't brave enough in the moment to tell her the truth: Simon was shot to death by football playing kids in a stadion, as well as Ajene Xola. Silvia finds also a notebook with words her brother liked the most as well as a list with names of people killed in the war. Under the names she finds under the list are the ones of her parents, her little sister and lately, Simons. She than tooks a pen and writes Simons name down, death by suicide.
From here on things happend quikly: Silvia decides to talk with Zuwanie in who she once hat so many hope that he may change things. She gets into the UN and waits for Zuwanie in the safe room of the UN, a room were nobody is supposed to get in without a security card she has. It's revelaed that the plot was planned by Zuwanies bodyguard Nils Lud, a dutch mercenary who killed the man who had to do as he kills Zuwanie with a sniper rifle, than killed by Keller.
Silvia Meanwhile wants Zuwanie to read from a book he once wrote down, giving hope to all the people of Matobo. Keller enters in the safe room while Silvia is pointing with a gun on Zuwanie.
The thing ends with Zuwanie trield before the International Criminal Court and Silvia is free and goes back to Africa.
There were two things that impressed me much: On one hand of course the philosophy dealed in the film: A part from the matobean trial is that a man who murdered someone beloves is budled and put into a little ship who moves over a river. He that falls into the water and the person who lost the beloved person decides if he wants to safe the murder and stop mourning and continuing living in peace or if he allows him to drown and keep mourning evermore without forgetting.
On the other and the last workd that Zuwanie says in the film "even the lowest whisper can be heard over an army if it tells the true".
Keller who lost his wife in an car accident changes his mind: when he first wanted to drown the car driver he then decides to safe him mentally. The same happends to Silvia.
At the end of the film Silvia says in Ku: Angota ho ne njumata ("The truth needs no translation.")
