Rege-Jean Page, Naomie Harris and Michael Fassbender (L-R) star in filmmaker Steven Soderbergh’s “Black Bag” (Photo Credit: Claudette Barius/Focus Features).
(“Black Bag” trailer courtesy of Focus Features)
Many people sleep with the enemy every night.
Some people have married a person who does not have their best interest at heart.
But what if a person marries someone who does not have their country’s best interest at heart either?
To make matters worse, what if the husband and wife are spies for their country?
Should that person do what is best for their family or what is best for their nation?
The movie “Black Bag” presents the ultimate catch-22 for a person who loves their nation while also loving their spouse.
In “Black Bag,” the only thing that George Woodhouse (Michael Fassbender, “Steve Jobs”) knows is that someone has betrayed the country.
He does not know for sure who it is.
But it is probably someone very close to him.
The traitor could be his lovely wife, Kathryn St. Jean (Cate Blanchett, “Nightmare Alley”), who works in his agency.
The turncoat could be one of George’s colleagues like Freddie Smalls (Tom Burke), Clarissa Dubose (Marisa Abela, “Industry”) or Col. James Stokes (Rege-Jean Page, “Sylvie’s Love”).
Or maybe the backstabber is Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris, “Moonlight”), who works for the agency as a psychologist and is also in a relationship with James.
To get to the bottom of the traitorous ordeal, George invites his four colleagues to his home for an intimate triple date.
He also shares the details with Kathryn to keep his wife from becoming suspicious.
In “Black Bag,” George prepares an exquisite meal for his companions.
Additionally, he even proposes that they play what seems like a harmless game.
George hopes that the relaxed atmosphere will allow him to size his colleagues up in hopes that they let their guards down, revealing the details of their betrayal of their nation.
While George is cool, calm, collected and calculated while he discerns the situation, if he does not discover who is behind the sabotage, thousands of people will die.
“Black Bag” is an intellectual spy film that might require multiple trips to the movie theater to catch all the nuances, twists and turns.
Moviegoers will liken the film to “Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” which starred the real-life husband and wife team (at the time) Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie trying to kill each other at the behest of rival organizations.
While many people in real-life claim patriotism and unwavering support for their country, it is safe to say that loyalty to country has some limitations.
Many would gladly put their life in danger for their home nation.
But would those people sacrifice the freedom or livelihood of a loved one for their country?
Often, married couples are not even forced to testify against their spouse because many people would remain loyal to their better half.
But “Black Bag” puts the loyalty exam to the ultimate test.
In “Black Bag,” George works for a spy agency.
Therefore, it is his job to bring intelligence back to his superiors.
But heroism such as this is not limited to those working in intelligence agencies.
In America, many people turned in their relatives for their connections to the Jan. 6 insurrection, which placed the republic in grave danger of collapse from a democratic standpoint.
But many of those people knew of their relatives and friends’ involvement in the attempted overthrow of the government because of the criminals’ carelessness and recklessness.
However, George’s dilemma is a bit different because every suspected or possible traitor has the intelligence and savvy to hide their capers from being detected by the normal person.
In fact, when people ask people from the intelligence agency where they are going, they often reply “black bag” when they do not want a person to know their whereabouts.
Therefore, George will have to use espionage himself to root out the rogue spy in “Black Bag.”
The cast of “Black Bag” says much of what needs to be said about the movie.
With stars like Fassbender, Blanchett and others it would have been hard for filmmaker Steven Soderbergh to miss too badly.
Fassbender plays George with an effortless cool.
He does not flaunt his intelligence.
But it should be clear that it is hard to pull a fast one on him.
He talks when necessary.
However, he does a lot of listening and observing.
A wise person once said that if you give a person enough rope, they will hang themselves.
That is exactly what George does in “Black Bag.”
His metaphorical bag must contain the longest rope ever because he lets his comrades pull on as much rope as possible until they catch themselves in an unbreakable snare.
Page brings the swagger and debonair Black Rico suave feel to “Black Bag.”
He too is intellectual like George.
But he is smoother than the aforementioned spy.
He has a volatile relationship with Harris’ character, Zoe.
But their dysfunction has nothing on the toxicity of Freddie and Clarissa’s relationship.
The turbulent relationships of the main characters can only lead to a combustible situation despite a spy’s best effort to remain calm while they stalk their prey.
Dysfunction and all, “Black Bag” is a visual display of the cliché, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
The person that could cause another the most harm is often right under their nose.
Often, people are just too blinded by love and loyalty to see it for what it is at first.
And when they finally face the facts, it is often too late.
REGAL RATINGS
FOUR CROWNS=EXCELLENT
THREE CROWNS=GOOD
TWO CROWNS=AVERAGE
ONE CROWN=POOR
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