Director Report Card: Ridley Scott (2008)

18. Body of Lies

“Body of Lies” was the original point where I got off the Ridley Scott train. Up to this point, I considered myself a fan of the director. I hadn't followed all of his movies with that much interest but I usually made an attempt to catch up with them eventually. “Body of Lies” is the first of Scott's films I had absolutely no interest in it. I can't quite say, looking back, why the movie seemed so boring to me. Maybe I just wanted the director to get back to aliens and androids and not spend so much time on historical epics and grimy looking war thrillers. Whatever the reason, this is the first time I've seen “Body of Lies.”

In the Middle East, CIA agent Roger Ferris seeks out the terrorist Al-Saleem, He takes orders from Ed Hoffman, his boss in D.C. that he is frequently at odds with. After a mission goes horribly wrong in Iraq, that nearly leaves Roger dead, he is reassigned to Jordan. Cooperating with the local government, Ferris engineers an elaborate plot to lure Al-Saleem out by manufacturing a rival terrorist out of thin air. At the same time, he develops an attraction to a nurse living in the country. Inevitably, the quest to find Al-Saleem goes awry, Roger's professional and personal life becoming intertwined. 

At the time of its release, Ridley Scott considered “Body of Lies” something of a companion piece to “Kingdom of Heaven.” Both movies, after all, track the conflicts between the forces of the Christian world and Muslim believers in the Middle East. The film actually has a lot more in common with an earlier Scott movie. As in “Gladiator,” this is a movie about a soldier who becomes increasingly aware of how little his government actually cares for him. Ferris is bounced from one war-torn country to another. His own agency frequently undermines his operations. By the film's end, he learns that he's simply a pawn – a means-to-an-end that is easily sacrificed – in grander, geopolitical schemes. As in “Gladiator,” Scott criticizes a country that has no respect for the men it expects to die for it.

Mostly though, “Body of Lies” is another entry into the modern spy movie canon. Like many espionage flicks, it feels the need to cook up a convoluted plot. There's a lot of names and characters to keep track of, many of them with their own agendas and motivations. The film chooses to name its terrorist antagonist Saleem and its heroic Jordanian GID director Salaam, which couldn't help but mix me up. The story line that occupies the second half of the narrative, about trying to lure Al-Saleem out by creating a rival terrorist, isn't even the first complex CIA plot within the movie. The movie tries to shove in so much plot that sometimes it feels like scenes are missing, disappearances and betrayals happening largely off-screen. It's one of those movies where it helps to have the Wikipedia plot synopsis open as you watch it, which is never an ideal situation.

“Body of Lies” is ultimately most interesting when it emphasizes how the CIA is... Kind of incompetent. Early in the first half, Hoffman fucks up Ferris' plot by running a simultaneous scheme that ends up going horribly wrong. This forces Ferris to make some drastic choices and gets him badly injured. Later, Hoffman does almost the exact same thing, undermining his own agent's objectives by trying to run a parallel mission. This might be because Hoffman – and all the government heads he represents – are in D.C., while Ferris is actually down in the shit in Iraq and Jordan. Essentially, the people making up the master plans aren't the ones with first-hand experiences and maybe that's why so much bad shit goes down in the Middle East. 

“Body of Lies” is, of course, a movie about the War on Terror. Like so many films made about that conflict, it inevitably questions whether the U.S.'s methods during the war were justifiable. Early on, Hoffman outright says that he doesn't know if it's right that the government is intervening in Iraq... But that he also doesn't care. Torture, of course, is referenced. Guantanamo Bay is repeatedly brought up. Ferris witnesses a Jordanian informant being lashed at one point. Inevitably, Ferris himself is captured and subjected to physical brutality by Al Queda. The lingering guilt and fear of torture and “advanced interrogation techniques' that were floating around in U.S. pop culture at the time – the entire torture horror genre was inspired by the same thing – is definitely baked into this whole movie.

Ultimately, “Body of Lies” is a movie about a man who wants to do the right thing but is caught up in the dirtiest business possible. Roger Ferris bemoans when he has to kill an informant captured by Al Queda, to prevent precious information from being revealed. This is neither the first nor the last time someone relatively innocent has to die under Ferris' watch. He goes out of his way to make sure the architect framed for terrorism is protected, both to keep the deception from being revealed and to make sure a random guy isn't hurt. Yet it's no use, as bystanders are killed and innocent blood is spilled. Hoffman repeatedly reminds Ferris that nobody gets out of this job clean but he's still futilely trying to do the right thing in a world that's hopelessly corrupt.

While the point here is obviously that being a spy sucks, “Body of Lies'” themes ultimately bend in a more predictable direction. Ferris' romance with Aisha, the nurse that treats his wounds a few times, is about as chaste as they come. Under the watchful eye of her conservative sister, the two are afraid to even shake hands. Even calling it a “romance” might be pushing things, as it's perhaps more accurately described as simply a friendship. Yet from the minute the two meet, from the minute it becomes clear the CIA is aware of the relationship, we know Aisha is going to get in trouble. That she'll be captured and used as a tool to manipulate Ferris. This is more-or-less how things play out, such predictability removing quite a bit of tension from many of the film's scenes.

By this point, this is a fact that doesn't need to be reiterated but: Ridley Scott knows how to direct an action scene. The first third of “Body of Lies” is by far its most action-packed. There's multiple shoot-outs, grenades tossed, car chases, rocket launchers, and multiple explosions. It's all well shot, tensely edited, and features quite a lot of bright red blood flying into the air. Considering I was expecting “Body of Lies” to be a fairly serious examination on the War on Terror, I was surprised to see it function as a convincing action movie for at least several of its early scenes. This is probably the closest we're ever going to get to seeing Ridley Scott directing a James Bond movie.

Probably the boldest thing “Body of Lies” does is use Scott's strength for intense action sequence in service of conveying the horrors of terrorism. The movie's script leaps around the globe, at one point dropping into Amsterdam. With little warning, a flower market explodes into a massive fireball after a suicide bomber activates their explosives. The shockwaves reverberate through the entire city. It's a startling and sudden moment that nails home the “terror” in terrorism. Normal, every day life being interrupted by horrible death and violence. Its an urgency perhaps more of the movie should've utilized.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Ferris, the superstar dipping his toes back into the same sort of gritty, geopolitical thriller waters that he last visited in “Blood Diamond.” Here, Leo certainly does serviceable work. It's an intense character, who is dealing with some very grave circumstances. DiCaprio certainly knows what notes to strike when delivering impassionate, profane monologues. He also finds a nugget of emotional truth in all the blustering, yelling, and killing. The quiet scenes he shares with Aisha's nephews are definitely among the film's best, showing this constantly under-pressure secret agent in a far more mundane and easily understood situation.  It's nice to know that Leo can play both a traumatized spy at the end of his rope and a guy who is trying to charm a woman he likes.

“Body of Lies” also shows Ridley Scott reteaming with Russell Crowe yet again. This time, Crowe plays Hoffman, the rotund C.I.A. spymaster who calls the shots. Crowe adopts another ridiculous accent, this one some sort of weird Texan thing, and gains a bunch of weight. As a perpetually sarcastic asshole who is never anything but belittling to the men under his command, Crowe is certainly suitable obnoxious. The glimpses we get at Hoffman's mundane life, with his kids, helps to humanize him a little bit. I also feel like the way he constantly has a headset in his ear, casually delivering messages halfway across the globe while driving his kids to school or whatever, is another interesting example of how disconnected the authorities are with the men they ostensibly serve. 

“Body of Lies” was part of a wave of films made about the War on Terror while the war was still technically on-going. (If it can be said to have ever truly ended.) Most of these movies were coldly received by the public, who weren't much interested in deconstructing a conflict that they were still living with. “Body of Lies” actually did a little better than the likes of “In the Valley of Elah” or “Lions for Lambs.” It even managed to turn in a small profit, when you factor in worldwide box office. Reviews were mixed. Ultimately, “Body of Lies” has some interesting ideas that it executes fairly well. It's destined to be among Ridley Scott's more overlooked movies and does not overtake its shortcomings, yet it's far from being all that bad either. [Grade: B-]