The truth cannot be redacted.|Jun. 02, 2023|USA|83 Min.|TV-MA
Genre: Drama
Description: Reality is a 2023 American drama film directed by Tina Satter, with a screenplay co-written by Satter and James Paul Dallas. The movie is based on the FBI interrogation transcript of Reality Winner, an American intelligence leaker, which was previously adapted into the play *Is This a Room*. Sydney Sweeney portrays Reality Winner, supported by Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton.
The film had its premiere at the 2023 Berlin International Film Festival on February 18, 2023, and was released by HBO Films on May 29, 2023. It has garnered critical acclaim, particularly for Satter’s direction and Sweeney’s compelling performance.
The story begins on May 9, 2017, with Reality Winner watching Fox News coverage of James Comey’s firing by President Donald Trump. Twenty-five days later, on June 3, Winner returns home from grocery shopping to find FBI agents Taylor and Garrick waiting with a warrant to search her home. As agents comb through her belongings, Winner engages in casual conversation, all of which is recorded and forms the basis of the film’s dialogue.
Winner is eventually taken to an empty bedroom in her house for questioning. While she initially discusses her work as a yoga instructor, CrossFit trainer, and Farsi translator for a government contractor, the agents gradually reveal they are investigating her for leaking classified documents. After an hour of interrogation, Winner confesses to printing and leaking a document from the National Security Agency’s database. The film, like the transcript, initially redacts details of the leak but later reveals the documents exposed Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections, which were published by *The Intercept*.
Cast director: Gerardo Coello Escalante
Cast actor: Sydney Sweeney, Josh Hamilton, Marchánt Davis, Benny Elledge, Allan Anthony Smith, John Way, Reality Winner, Tucker Carlson
Original name: Reality