Strip Search follows several parallel stories examining personal freedoms vs. national security in the aftermath of 9/11; two main subplots involve an American woman detained in China and an Arab man detained in New York City.
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The Worst Film Ever
a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.
This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
In the aftermath of the September, 11th, in China, the American student Linda Sykes (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is interrogated by the military Liu Tsung- Yuan (Ken Leung). In New York, the Arab student Sharif Bin Said (Bruno Lastra) is interrogated by the FBI agent Karen Moore (Glenn Close). The psychological methods of interrogation are the same, amicable in the beginning and brutal in the end; but there is no evidence that the students are terrorists. Must security and safety of the State come at the price of freedom?"Strip Search" is a film directed by Sidney Lumet with the same dialogs and situations in two totally different countries, with two students that might be connected to terrorist networks being interrogated at the same time. The movie shows that torture does not depend of the country and the importance of civil liberties to the individuals. I lived a great part of my life in a dictatorship and I know the importance of freedom and democracy. My vote is six.Title (Brazil): "Inspeção Geral" ("General Inspection")
When I started watching this movie, I became so caught up in it and the dialog that I forgot that its title was 'strip search'. Then the second part of the movie focuses on it.The actors playing the victims do a brilliant job here and create great sympathy for themselves from the audience. Furthermore they act pragmatically. They ask for their rights to be read, to have counsel with a lawyer, etc. For example, at one point in the film they have a strip search done on them by a person of the opposite sex. They point out that's not how it's supposed to work and the interrogators just say that there are exceptions. I know there is no particular torture here but it is absolutely terrifying to know that what happened to these characters, an absolutely humiliating and petrifying thing, can happen to any one of us at any time regardless of where we live. This film makes us think about exactly how much power governments have, about what's worse- terrorism or the way the govt. fears it so much that it harasses innocent people on an mere suspicions, about whether we really do have freedom of speech. The actors, director and scriptwriter have done a brilliant job here. The realism and nudity gives it a raw feeling. The repeated dialog is an interesting aspect that adds an extra dimension to the parallelism but does not bore the audience. At first I thought the interrogators lines were the same because they both work of the same script within the movie's universe itself but I went on to realize that it metaphorically hints at how similar interrogation methods are worldwide.This was a movie worth watching, it's not fun and it might get you riled up but that's point. It shows an issue that needs attention. In fact it was so good it made me write this review, my first ever review, just so I could tell someone how thought provoking it was. Mature teenagers should not be stopped from watching this just because it contains nudity. The youth are our future. If they don't fight against these injustices who will?
This movie was exceptional. I do believe that it was a fair film. It did point out , constitutional violations from past times in our history. This movie was not out to attack GWB. The parallel story was right on the money. Unlike some other people. I did have sympathy for both characters. The illustration basically brought out the naivety of the average American , thinking these things can not happen in our homeland. Where as the stories were parallel to a tee on purpose. It brought out the point that vogue leadership is real and perhaps a perception at the same time. I liked that they pointed out other people looking at us from thousands of miles away , do not see us as a democracy. Very intelligent film . One very important fact though , is that in our nation there is the freedom to air this film where as in China there is not.
It makes you think what do you care more about, is national security really important if it costs us our personal freedom. This is why we left England people! This is why America is such a great country, everyone is individually represented. This constitution was designed to protect everyone as an individual, not to protect the society. It's in the bill of rights and the constitution, their really shouldn't be this much argument about it. Republicans, and claimed "patriots" ideas are violating the constitution much more than said "radical" liberals do, we fight for the people, which is what this country is based on in the first place. Anyway, watch it if its on, think about this as you watch it, and the next time you vote.