In June 2017, Garrick and Taylor, two FBI agents, approach Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney) when she parks her car in front of her house and tell her they have a search warrant for her home, vehicle, and phone due to possible mishandling of classified documents.

In an apparently informal yet insistent tone, the agents repeatedly remind Reality that she is "voluntarily" cooperating with the process, even though they don't read her rights, ask if she wants a lawyer, or hand her the search warrant authorizing their actions. She also does not request these.

Soon more cars and agents arrive, closing in on the perimeter. The scale of the operation suggests that either everything happening is a mistake or that this 25-year-old woman is more important than she appears.

However, Reality does not seem nervous and never directly asks why they are there. It is not clear whether she is calm, naive, or in shock. The agents also do not clearly state what they are looking for.

This is the starting point of Reality, one of the most tense films in recent years.

Also one of the most surprising, because everything that happens there is extracted from the real interrogation that the FBI subjected a National Security Agency worker to.

When one remembers that all the characters' lines and the order in which revelations occur are copied from a transcript, it is incredible that it is so well-structured the dramatic progression of the narrative.

The real case (no spoilers)

Tina Satter's debut is the fascinating adaptation of her play Is This a Room, a real-time portrait of the FBI interrogation of Reality Winner, a young U.S. Air Force veteran and former NSA translator being investigated for leaking a classified document.

Both the play and the film use as the only dialogue the verbatim transcription of the conversation that took place in 2018.

In the United States, this case had a big impact, but in Spain it may have gone unnoticed, which is why this text does not delve into details of the what, why, political context, the protagonist's involvement, or the investigation outcome. The film is crafted as a tense thriller that showcases in real-time the FBI's encounter with the suspect and is best enjoyed when the details are unknown.

The film concludes with real footage of what was said in U.S. media about the case and with public statements from government spokespeople. Even without awareness of current U.S. affairs, no context is needed to grasp the magnitude of the revelations in the third act.

Sydney Sweeney delivers a superb performance, constantly playing with ambiguity and proving herself as one of the great actresses of her generation. Meanwhile, Satte's direction is a sober, elegant, intelligent, and very powerful exercise in narrative. It is impossible to look away.

*This article has been automatically translated using artificial intelligence