v5n45-movie.html

Movie raises ethical constitutional questions

By Angelica Ponce, Special to the Online Forty Niner
Tuesday, November 10, 1998

"The Siege" is a political thriller that comes frighteningly close to leading news stories of present day.

An FBI special agent, a case officer in the CIA, and a general in the United States Army have all taken an oath to support and defend the Constitution.


MOVIE REVIEW

When a bus blows up in Brooklyn and a campaign of terror begins to make its bloody mark on New York City, the people who have sworn to protect the country must now reckon with the many implications of their oath.

Anthony Hubbard (Denzel Washington), the head of the joint FBI and NYPD terrorism task force, is the man in charge of keeping New York City safe from an array of threats that seem to grow more terrifying with every headline. As an officer, his job is the apprehension and prosecution of the criminals responsible.

Elisa Kraft (Annette Bening) is an undercover CIA operative with important sources in the Arab-American community and ambiguous ties to the suspects.

Her agenda, like that of her government's foreign policy, is more complex than Hubbard's. The two are forced to work together, forging an uneasy alliance.

Before they can accomplish their mission, the public's clamor for safety forces the president to declare a state of emergency and ask for help from the military.

Gen. William Devereaux (Bruce Willis) is a thoughtful and cautious soldier who realizes the dangers of bringing the Army into the city.

Although he argues against it, when he is given the unenviable task of imposing military order he responds as a soldier must - with unquestioning obedience and purpose.

As the pursuit of the terrorists becomes more desperate, the lives of the three main characters become intertwined in a terrible and frightening dilemma.

The delicate situation threatens the fabric of the democratic society.

The movie tackles the conflict between protecting citizens while at the same time protecting individual rights. The characters are faced with many dangers and must deal with them adequately in order to abrogate the problem and simultaneously uphold the Constitution.