Black Bag

Movie Review

George Woodhouse doesn’t like liars. Shame he works with so many of them.

You see, George is an intelligence agent for the British government. A spy. And spies are in the business of keeping secrets—often lying to do so. But a spy’s job isn’t just about keeping secrets. It’s also about discovering them.

George is on the discovery side of spy craft. He’s become something of a legend for his skill in digging up dirty little secrets. He seems to know vices of everyone within his world, be they an intelligence target, a coworker or a family member.

All except Kathryn. She’s a formidable spy in her own right. A master of deception. An adept at espionage.

She also happens to be George’s wife.

Kathryn and George have a happy and committed marriage. They artfully navigate the relational pitfalls that accompany a profession such as theirs. Pitfalls that many of their colleagues have fallen into headlong. (George has the evidence to prove it.)

George adores Kathryn and trusts her implicitly. That’s why when a top-secret government weapon is stolen, and Kathryn is on the list of potential traitors, George hardly gives it a second thought. She wouldn’t betray her country, he thinks. More than that, she wouldn’t betray him. And there are plenty of other suspects.

But as the methodical George scrupulously searches for the truth, all evidence points to Kathryn as the culprit. Everything is called into question. Could his wife be a traitor? If so, does he even know her at all?

“When you can lie about everything,” George’s coworker muses about the effect of their clandestine profession, “how can you tell the truth?”

George Woodhouse doesn’t like liars. Shame he might be married to one.