Strip Search (film)
| Strip Search | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | Mark A. Baker Irene Burns |
| Written by | Tom Fontana |
| Starring | Glenn Close Maggie Gyllenhaal Ken Leung Bruno Lastra Dean Winters |
| Music by | Paul Chihara |
| Cinematography | Ron Fortunato |
| Editing by | Tirsa Hackshaw Tom Swartwout |
| Release date(s) | April 27, 2004 |
| Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Strip Search is a dramatic film made for the HBO network, first aired on April 27, 2004 at 9:30 p.m. (ET/PT). The film explores the status of individual liberties in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks and the approval of the USA PATRIOT Act. The film was directed by Sidney Lumet and written by Oz creator Tom Fontana. It stars Glenn Close, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Ken Leung, Bruno Lastra and Dean Winters. The film was first screened at the Monaco Film Premiere with Lumet in person presenting it, in the presence of Fontana.
[edit] Plot
The film is built around two main parallel stories, each containing almost identical dialogues. One story line involves Linda Sykes (Gyllenhaal), an American woman detained in the People's Republic of China, being interrogated by a military officer (Leung). In the other storyline, Sharif Bin Said (Lastra), an Arab man detained in New York City, is interrogated by two FBI agents (Winters and Close). Both characters are graduate students detained with no hard evidence and interrogated about unspecified activities which may or may not be related to terrorist plots. As implied by the title, the characters of Sykes and Bin Said are strip-searched against their will by their interrogators. In both cases the protagonists appear to have only tenuous connections with the suspected terrorist plots.
The film ends with the question: "Must security and safety come at the price of freedom?"
[edit] Cast
| Actor | Role |
|---|---|
| Glenn Close | FBI Agent Karen Moore |
| Maggie Gyllenhaal | Linda Sykes |
| Bruno Lastra | Sharif Bin Said |
| Dean Winters | FBI Agent Ned McGrath |
| Ken Leung | Liu Tsung-Yuan |
