‘Reality‘ (2023) is a simple and effective TV movie that tells a story inspired by a real case. Playwright Tina Satter took over the text version of the first interrogatory taken to Reality Winner, translator and analyst, external employee at the National Security Agency, on the occasion of the search that led to her arrest and conviction. She first turned it into a successful play which was staged also on Broadway and then adapted it for this film, which she also directed. It’s a simple story that plays out in near real time, but it raises important questions in the minds of viewers: How can the balance be kept between abiding laws (including those related to the confidentiality of government materials) and the duty to act as a citizen when one suspects wrong-doing? What is the distance between a banal ‘normative’ life and sliding into the status of suspect, with life and career destroyed? What price is worth paying for speaking the truth?
The events took place on June 5, 2017. Reality Winner was returning home after a day at work, at the end of which she had stopped by a supermarket to do some shopping. The play and film are based on the transcript of the tapes recorded by the two FBI agents who interrogated the young analyst. The film lasts about 80 minutes, the events covered by the script lasted less than two hours. Two hours in which Reality transforms from a normative young woman, ambitious but with a seemingly ordinary life, to a person suspected of one of the crimes severely punished by the law. Two hours in which the rented and not very well furnished house becomes a crime scene surrounded by yellow ribbons and searched by a lot of FBI agents. The two agents both play the role of ‘good cops’, trying to gain the young woman’s trust in order to extract a confession from her. Her cooperation is voluntary. At first, Reality seems not to know the reasons why she is suspected and her home is searched. She seems more concerned with the fate of her pets (a dog and a cat) than of herself. In less than 120 minutes her life will change completely and irreversibly.
The story is told with a minimum of cinematic means. The dialogues take place on the lawn surrounding Reality’s house and in an outhouse, unused and unfurnished. The whole drama is based on acting and this is formidable. Sydney Sweeney is a great talent, and I hope she gets more roles like this in the future. In 80 minutes we see her transform before our eyes, we see her life take a course of no return, we live with her the dilemmas of a seemingly ordinary young woman who finds it natural to be involved in the life of her country, but does not know how to do it, getting into trouble with the law and the system. The roles of the investigators are played with discretion and naturalness by Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis. The conversation is natural, seems to be recorded, maybe even sometimes it is the recording that we hear, as the director Tina Satter occasionally inserts authentic photos and documents, accentuating the feel of a docu-drama or even a filmed documentary. Minimalistic simplicity works great. The facts appear to be reported as they happened. ‘Reality‘ does not directly ask any questions. This task is left to the viewers.