Review: Unthinkable (2010)

Directed by: Gregor Jordan | 97 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Samuel L. Jackson, Michael Sheen, Brandon Routh, Carrie-Anne Moss, Stephen Root, Gil Bellows, Necar Zadegan, Martin Donovan, Sasha Roiz, Yara Shahidi, Holmes Osborne, Benito Martinez, Vincent Laresca, Joshua Harto, Geoff Meed , Dayo Ade, Kirk BR Woller, Kelly Vaughn, Randy Oglesby, Chris McGarry, Sayeed Shahidi, Lora Kojovic

As good citizens, there are a lot of things we don’t know about at all. Also things that may be unthinkable for us. Because what does a government do when three nuclear weapons are armed with the man who knows more about them? People all over the world fear terrorism, perhaps most of all in America. ‘Unthinkable’ responds in a refreshing way to the current fear, but also poses a number of important questions of conscience to the viewer.

An American man (Michael Sheen) has converted to Islam. Instead of calling himself Steven, he now continues through life as Yusef Atta Mohammed. He leaks a video in which he claims to have placed three nuclear bombs in three major American cities. He is arrested by the FBI, led by Helen Brody (Carrie-Anne Moss), but the interrogations are unsuccessful. An appeal is made to “H” (Samuel L. Jackson), a soldier with a good dose of experience when it comes to torture and torture. It’s his job to get the terrorist to talk. His methodology is shocking and harsh, but is it also justified? How far can you go if you want to save millions of innocent civilians? Is the country’s importance greater than human rights? How unthinkable is the unthinkable if you really cannot do otherwise? Where are the boundaries?

‘Unthinkable’ is an intelligent thriller that does not shy away from exploring the corners of human ethics. The film is well put together and the acting is of a high level. Samuel L. Jackson is fearfully credible as a soldier who knows the ropes. ‘Unthinkable’ forces you to look beyond your nose and makes you think. Above all, the film is proof that a war and everything around it is never as simple as it seems. A war is not about who is good or bad, because there is not that much difference between them.