A former American intelligence specialist was given the longest sentence for the unauthorized release of government information to the media about Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections via an email operation.

‘Reality’ is a docudrama about Reality Winner (which sounds like a movie name but isn’t), a former U.S. government worker who was jailed for leaking an intelligence report about Russian involvement in the 2016 U.S. election. Directed by Tina Satter, who adapted this movie from her own stage play, it recreates Reality’s arrest using FBI transcripts and uses these conversations to tell the story and highlight the moral complexities surrounding her actions. Reality is played by Sydney Sweeney (already a two time Emmy nominee at 25), and she delivers a brilliant performance at the heart of the movie.

Most people will have heard of Edward Snowden (who gets referenced here), but Reality Winner is much less known – perhaps because her actions involved the leak of only one document and not thousands. That also makes her a particularly intriguing case study as she appears to be less a crusader and more a person persuaded to cross the line by a particular piece of information, and I suspect that may have been part of why Tina Satter was drawn to this story. The movie is only 80 minutes long and that refreshingly short runtime and focus means all of our attention is on Reality, how she responds to questioning and how the FBI agents behave around her (Josh Hamilton and Marchánt Davis, good foils for Sweeney). Satter’s direction is great as well, avoiding the pitfalls of many directors when they move a story from stage to sceen, using the expanded space to recreate as close as possible what Reality went through on the day.

The quote that appears at the end of the movie from Reality Winner herself is as succinct a description of the moral quandary ‘Reality’ explores as you’ll find, and I found ‘Reality’ to be a gripping and thought provoking fact-based drama that I’ve thought about a lot after leaving the cinema.

Rating: 4/5

Directed By: Tina Satter

Starring: Sydney Sweeney, Marchánt Davis, Josh Hamilton, Benny Elledge and John Way

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt24068064/