Here is another political thriller by writer and director Rod Lurie who gave us The Contender starring Joan Allen about a female vice-presidential candidate undergoing severe scrutiny. There are very few juicy roles for women in Hollywood movies, and this drama has two of them. Lurie also has a knack for creating stories that deal honestly with political power and the ways in which national security has become an excuse to cover up crimes. When ethical wrong-doing runs rampant in the halls of power, it is refreshing to see a film that salutes a courageous woman who puts her marriage and career on the line for a principle she holds to be sacred in her work. Lurie offers us a profile in fortitude, a virtue not talked about much in our times. In his book The Good Life, Peter J. Gomes writes:

"Fortitude is that moral quality that allows us to persevere when others would easily give up or give in; it is the fuel of the long-distance runner who, despite inner fatigue and the apparent outward success of others, nevertheless keeps on keeping on. It is thus perhaps the most enabling and valuable of all the virtues."

Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) is a political reporter for a Washington newspaper the Capitol Sun-Times whose editor, Bonnie Benjamin (Angela Bassett), has great confidence in her skills. After an assassination attempt on the President fails, the government launches a military attack on Venezuela. In putting a story together about this event, Rachel reveals that Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga) is a covert CIA operative who was sent to this South American country to find out more about the terrorists. Instead she reported back to her superiors that she could find no evidence that anyone in Venezuela was responsible for the attack on the President.

Benjamin, convinced that her reporter has enough collaboration for the story, gets the paper's chief counsel (Noah Wyle) to agree to its publication. The news causes a sensation when it hits the streets. The administration is boiling mad and sends Patton Dubois (Matt Dillon), a patriotic special prosecutor, to convince Rachel to reveal her source. When she refuses, the government takes her to court. Albert Burnside (Alan Alda) takes her case and is confident that he can win some time for her. But when she still refuses to give a name, Judge Hall (Floyd Abrams) declares her in contempt and sends her to jail to think over her stand. The government argues that whoever revealed the identity of a CIA operative has committed treason and the leak about Van Doren's report is putting national security in jeopardy.

Lurie tackles some heavy duty themes in Nothing But the Truth with thoughtful commentary on the First Amendment, the political uses of a threat to homeland security, the investigative role of the media, the trashing of civil liberties, and the hardball tactics used by the prosecutor and the CIA to get what they want. Kate Beckinsale does an outstanding job portraying a courageous spiritual warrior who suffers mightily to protect her source.

At first Rachel lets her husband Ray (David Schwimmer) bring her seven-year-old son Timothy (Preston Bailey) to visit her in jail. But when she sees how frightened he is, she decides not to have him come again. As time goes on, Ray feels betrayed by her zeal and starts an affair with another woman. Trying to get the spotlight back on her case, Rachel agrees to a television interview. Her only solace is learning that she is a finalist for a Pulitzer Price. After being in jail for nearly a year, she gets in a fight with another inmate and is badly beaten.

At one point, a character in the drama refers to Rachel as "a water-walker." That's just what we need these days: someone willing to do what no one else seems willing or able to do: the right thing for the right reason.


Special DVD features include a commentary by the filmmakers; deleted scenes; and "The Truth Hurts: the Making of Nothing But the Truth."