‘Reality’ is a drama based on the FBI interrogation transcript of former NSA employee and American intelligence specialist Reality Winner, surrounding her unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 American presidential elections via an email operation.
With a slow, almost insipid opening, ‘Reality’ garners a sense of danger, verging on a menacing risk to Reality (Sydney Sweeney) as she is approached by the two FBI agents (Marchánt Davis and Josh Hamilton) at her home on the day of her arrest. Serving as a mild opener, the tone of the film shifts almost immediately after Reality is hailed by the agents.
For viewers unaware of who Reality Winner is, the film presents an ominous and looming sense of danger. Well aware that a request to be questioned by FBI agents carries heavy implications in and of itself, ‘Reality’ unfolds gradually whilst maintaining an enigmatic atmosphere, as the reason for why agents Garrick and Taylor are there only surfaces well into the second act of the film.
Just as the interrogation lead by the agents, the film presents the transcript almost verbatim, instilling further anxiety as to how the questioning may unfold, what lengths the agents will go to in order to uncover the truth and how Reality will fair as her actions come to light.
With a visually almost threatening manner in which redacted information is presented to the audience, the film succeeds in establishing a sense of desperation in finding out what exactly was said. Even though eventually all is unearthed after Reality’s actions are revealed to their full extent, the journey ‘Reality’ takes you on to get there is both visually stimulating and oblique until all comes to a head.
Mostly staging the film within the confines of Reality’s house, specifically the back room, the film replicates the questioning and presents Winner as trapped. After uncovering that she had released the classified information, ‘Reality’ shows the heroine as having been pushed over the edge due to the discourse surrounding the 2016 US election and the way in which the media had perpetuated the seemingly never ending discussion about the results of the vote. Taking matters into her own hands, the film examines how Winner perceived the information at her disposal to be of vital importance and crucial to be shared with the public.
Besides the excellent staging and authentic feel of the film, Sydney Sweeney delivers a praiseworthy performance as Winner. Sweeney’s true-to-life embodiment of Winner anchors the movie, pulling us in and serving as a constant reminder that this is an actual person. With a heightened sense of nervousness and genuine despair, Sweeney manifests the unease with which she is processing the ultimate outcome and tries to face what is to come.
Speaking more to the personal repercussions Winner has to face, rather than the impact of the information coming to light, ‘Reality’ highlights the dangers of choosing to share classified information, rather than the effects the release of that information has on the public stage. Forewarning all of those who may debate uncovering secret intel, ‘Reality’ showcases the retributory nature of the government's response to such a digression, serving as a threat for any future whistle-blowers and the consequences that may await them.
Dramatising real life events, ‘Reality’ encapsulates the current state of the media, US government response to internal threats and whatever remains of individuals who believe in doing the right thing. Disheartening and very real, the film is not only an insight to how whistle-blowers are made an example of, but speaks volumes towards the deeply flawed and underhanded way in which most major global powers operate today.
Score: 4/4
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