‘Traitor’ Movie Review.
In Traitor, Don Cheadle stars as Samir Horn, a man of the Muslim faith who loses his father at a young age to a car bombing in Sudan, his birthplace. His mother lives in Chicago, where he establishes his home from childhood after his father's death.
You come to learn that Samir had been in the United States military, but disappeared from contact while on an anti-terrorism mission in the Middle East. At the movie's start, we find Samir selling detonators to Islamic terrorist bombers in Yemen, where he is arrested and put in jail under Yemenite custody for terrorism. As the plot unfolds, wonderful twists ensue. Lest I spoil the movie, I will spare you any revealing details.
I will say that Samir is working with terrorists and being investigated by the FBI all the while, and what occurs at every turn is brilliantly crafted storytelling that I hope many will see.
Momento fans out there will enjoy Guy Pearce's supporting role as FBI investigator, son of a Southern Baptist minister and all-around moralist good guy Roy Clayton. Neal McDonough also delivers a solid performance as the less moral-centric FBI partner to Roy, Max Archer. I felt like Jeff Daniels was an awkward casting choice for the role of Carter, a high-ranking person in some U.S. government agency who is also part of Samir's investigation. However, he did deliver a good performance and it certainly did not serve as a distraction to his parts in the movie, like I feared it might.
It goes without saying that, as always, Don Cheadle gives an absolutely stunning lead performance as Samir. Also worth mentioning is Saïd Taghmaoui, who convincingly portrays the terrorist leader Omar, who Samir befriends and works closely with throughout the movie.
Moreover, the movie serves to expose the bastardization of the Islamic faith, and at that, Christianity during the time of the Crusades, by war-mongering extremists who justify killing in the name of religion. And the way that writer/director Jeffrey Nachmanoff presents this theme is as moving as it is thrilling.
Every aspect of this movie's conception and execution is spot-on, and I really hope that you get the same enjoyment out of it that I did. Absolutely see this movie on the big screen if you have the opportunity.
