A real-life financial scandal at the United Nations forms the basis for this rather tame cinematic thriller. Filmmaker Per Fly’s adaptation of Michael Soussan’s titular 2008 memoir adds clichéd elements of romance and conspiracy to the author’s account of his shocking revelations about the corruption of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, which was established to provide basic life necessities while Iraq was enduring heavy sanctions following the First Gulf War. The resultant graft benefited Saddam Hussein, along with scores of private companies and U.N. officials. Here, Soussan is turned into Michael Sullivan (Theo James), a naïve neophyte hired as assistant to Pasha (Ben Kingsley), the undersecretary in charge of the program. Sullivan quickly becomes aware that funds are being siphoned off, and learns—through information provided by Nashim (Belçim Bilgin), a beautiful translator in Baghdad—that Saddam is manipulating the aid to starve his bitterest rivals, the Kurds. In Baghdad, Sullivan’s involvement with Nashim—which soon takes a romantic turn—puts them both in the crosshairs of the regime’s most ruthless enforcers, which continues even after the couple makes their way back to the United States. Unfortunately, Fly’s decision to add conventional genre elements to Soussan’s important work as a whistleblower undermines the film’s impact, although there is some compensation in Kingsley’s cunningly extravagant if admittedly hammy turn (the otherwise pallid Backstabbing comes alive only when he is onscreen). Not a necessary purchase. (F. Swietek)
Backstabbing for Beginners
Lionsgate, 108 min., R, DVD: $19.99, Blu-ray: $24.99 Volume 33, Issue 4
Backstabbing for Beginners
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