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movie review - Defense of the Realm

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

In this Cold War movie, a reporter becomes obsessed with a story following the suspicious death of one of his colleagues following an expose written by the reporter. He spends the next several days in a very lonely cycle of research, interviews, and paranoia. He's convinced that he's being monitored from a flat across the street from his, and he's sure that a boy who jumped a fence to run across an American air force base (in a bid to evade the police) was killed to cover up a state secret. Events sweep the main character along, and until the very last scene we're not sure how it's going to be resolved.

No romantic sub-plot, despite the presence of an attractive woman. No heroics, just a man doing his job and living up to his convictions. No vindication, no changing realpolitik, no justice for the dead, it's just business as usual during the Cold War (and look where that's led us). This is a very good story, told well and without compromise.

Strongly recommended.