This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the movie being covered here wouldn’t exist.
For those who don’t know the story of Reality Winner, it is a sad indictment of our times, showing the institutional failure in both the government and in the press that made a pariah out of the former Air Force Airmen. First time director Tina Satter chooses to focus on one momentous day in Reality’s life: June 3, 2017. While most people were horrified by the London terrorist attack that day, it’s cruel irony that Reality’s world came crashing down because of the consequences of the US War on Terror.
It was probably a normal day for Reality Winner (Sydney Sweeney), coming home from the store with her groceries. But as she arrived home, she was met by two men, FBI agents Garrick (Josh Hamilton) and Taylor (Marchant Davis). The story then takes place during that 90 minute recording agent Garrick asked of Reality, which she agreed to. Without a lawyer. One of the biggest mistakes of her life.
Most FBI raids are played for dramatic, action effect, happening in the middle of the night, so some action hero can either stop the bad guy or shoot their way out. This is one of those rare times where we see how probably most FBI raids go: quietly, and deliberately, with little to no loud fuss. Despite the seeming lack of tension in this “regular raid,” Director Satter clearly understands the wealth of natural tension that any normal person might feel if the FBI showed up at your door. She extracts that out like she did in her hit play, using the real life recording to show the chilling brilliance of the FBI’s interrogation techniques against one severely overmatched person. Like a hidden predator, the agents lay traps to let Reality let her guard down, waiting for one mini slip up to pounce, get what they need, then deescalate to extract more information later. With a bigger budget, Satter also uneases the audience further with these sharp erasures of Reality Winner in parts of the recording that were redacted for “national security” reasons. It drives the point home, about the lengths the government will go to make sure no one divulges “private” information without their consent.
Tina Satter also got lucky with her lead, Sydney Sweeney. Commonly known as the emotional sexpot on Euphoria, Sweeney gets a chance to show that her talent is what makes her most special in Reality. Playing Airmen Winner, Sweeney gives an aw shucks down to Earth performance, never overemoting even when everything starts to unravel for her. The character in the wrong hands could seep into melodrama, but Sweeney’s sharp normalcy makes the performance real, and therefore, hit like a sack of bricks when it all goes to hell. On the other side of the law, Josh Hamilton does a great job playing a human sniper, ready to shoot as soon as he hears something he can use to get the information he needs, while also coming across like a nice guy when he has too, a nice layered performance from the seasoned vet.
Man, there’s just so much cruel, sick irony in Reality. World’s best dad ever Josh Hamilton playing a bureaucratic viper. A news organization championed by a free speech activist getting a source caught. And maybe worst of all, our heroine’s name. Because of there’s one thing that isn true about poor Reality, its that reality did win, in a cruel, unfair way.