The UN building brings an air of importance and genuineness to the film that may not have been achieved otherwise. Pollack and his crew, who were permitted to shoot in the building during weekends, do a magnificent job of capturing the beauty of the edifice as well as the surrounding New York City landscape. Sometimes, it pays to have the real thing. During a time where many have begun to question the practicality of this idealistic organization, showcasing its beauty and importance seems to be a wise PR move.
Upon returning to the UN during after-hours to collect some things she left behind, Silvia overhears two barely audible voices speaking in her native South African tongue, Ku. Before she is spotted, she distinctly hears one voice whisper, "The Teacher will never leave this room alive." The Teacher, we later learn, is a name once given to Matoban president/dictator Zuwanie (Earl Cameron). Silvia does not go to the police until the next morning. When asked about the delay of her actions, she lies, telling the interrogating officer that "[the threat] didn't mean anything to [her] at the time." Enter Keller, the agent assigned to Silvia's case. At first, Silvia welcomes Keller-she thinks he's there to protect her-but to her surprise, Keller's first order of business is figuring out if she's even telling the truth. Silvia may not have concocted the assassination threat, but it's clear to both Keller and the audience that she's hiding something. Her hair, which strategically covers one corner of her face, seems to be a dead giveaway that Silvia is literally hiding something and knows more than she's letting on. Kidman's hair placement may have been seen as an artistic move, but it plays out to be a subtle additive gone awry. While Silvia interprets words, Keller reads faces, and his guilty-until-proven-innocent method is needed now more than ever.
Eventually, we learn that Matoban leader Zuwanie (both the country and leader are fictional, but Zuwanie is undoubtedly meant to embody the once liberating and now oppressive Zimbabwe leader Mugabe) indirectly caused the deaths of Silvia's parents and younger sister when she was 13. Clearly, Silvia wouldn't mind if Zuwanie were gone, but she corrects Keller when he states that she would want him dead. "If dead and gone were the same thing, there wouldn't be a United Nations," she quips. After Keller continues to check into Silvia's background and begins to question her even further, she confesses, "I'll be honest with you. I don't know how honest I can be with you."
The film stays true to its thriller label. As the plot thickens we continue to question Silvia's character even as we are thrown deeper into the South African conflict that has created numerous enemies for both Silvia and Zuwanie. Yet, amidst the murders and threats, the film lets Silvia and Keller connect on an emotional and human level (we learn that both have lost loved ones). Along with Pollack's wise decision not to make the film overly violent and explosive, such depth of feeling allows the film to be considered an intelligent thriller.
There is chemistry between Kidman and Penn, but the film remains realistic in the sense that they simply don't have the time to deal with what a romance might bring or mean to the characters. "We didn't have time for a lot of things," Keller tells Silvia during the film's obvious and borderline unnecessary "closure scene." Though the movie as a whole is alluring, the plot sometimes seems to be a hindrance. At times it moves too slowly and then suddenly feels the need to catch up too quickly. There are also plot holes that make the film less credible.
Nonetheless, Kidman and Penn do outstanding jobs. Kidman has to make us like her, but not always trust her, and she walks that fine line beautifully, if a bit too coldly at times. Penn is a wonderful actor and proves his skill yet again. His performance is less intense than the one he gave in "Mystic River," which works to his advantage here. Instead of being the stereotypical tough cop, he acts with reserve, giving his character added depth. By simply staring at Silvia with his piercing blue eyes, Keller can speak multitudes. Pollack is a master of thriller-based movies, and despite a few plot slipups, the movie doesn't disappoint.