'Nothing But the Truth' review

Kate Beckinsale (Credit: Yari Film Group)

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When reporter Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) breaks a big story that exposes a CIA agent (Vera Farmiga), the government wants to know Rachel’s source, since it’s a felony for an official to reveal an agent's identity. But she won’t talk, so she’s tossed in prison—away from her son and husband (David Schwimmer)—while her lawyers (Alan Alda, Noah Wyle) plead her case and the prosecution (Matt Dillon) argues that she must remain incarcerated until she squeals.

The buzz: The story has obvious similarities to New York Times reporter Judith Miller’s prison sentence after she refused to reveal the source who identified CIA agent Valerie Plame. But in "Truth" writer-director Rod Lurie (“The Contender”) makes a point of opening by saying that the film is inspired by true events—and not meant to depict any real people or incidents—so, in fact, “Nothing But the Truth” is not necessarily nothing but the truth.
 
The verdict: Should journalists sacrifice their professional integrity in the interest of national security? It’s a shame that instead of exploring this conundrum “Truth” mostly just sides with Rachel, leaving all the discussion out in the open to sermonize about the duties of the press. (A documentary on the topic would have been much more useful.) The film needs to make us feel the endless strain of Rachel’s time away—she serves more than a year, costing her paper thousands in fines—but goes too fast, diluting the reporter’s resolve and failing to foreshadow sideline decisions like one source coming forward and Rachel’s husband’s waning fidelity. When the main source is finally revealed, it should be fodder for conversation but seems more like a punchline.
  
Did you know? On the school bus with her son, Rachel sarcastically wonders if part of the alleged abuses at Abu Ghraib involved subjecting prisoners to renditions of “99 Bottles of Beer On the Wall.” She’s close; in fact, it was actually “The Song That Doesn’t End.”

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