Spy and mighty

DiCaprio brings an emotional, complex performance to the thrilling 'Body of Lies' *** ( 3 STARS)

Leonardo DiCaprio brings straight-razor reflexes and rooted emotion to the role of a deceptively rugged CIA man in Ridley Scott's Body of Lies. He helps turn what could have been a dry-as-sand Middle Eastern thriller into a compelling suspense film that questions the ethics of espionage and counterterrorism without turning sanctimonious or screedlike. Working from a biting, inventive script by William Monahan (The Departed), based on Washington Post columnist David Ignatius' solid 2007 novel, DiCaprio depicts Roger Ferris as a man who adapts F. Scott Fitzgerald's notion of intelligence to an age of multitasking and to arenas of multiple risk.

Fitzgerald defined intelligence as maintaining the ability to keep functioning while holding two opposing ideas at the same time. DiCaprio's Ferris keeps operating in life-or-death situations while holding three or four contradictory thoughts simultaneously. When the main plot kicks in, and he establishes himself in Amman, Jordan, to mastermind the capture of a new world-class terrorist named Al-Saleem (Alon Abutbul), Ferris displays even more dimensions than he did as a rough-and-tough-yet-sensitive field agent.

In Iraq, Ferris ruthlessly tracked down insurgents but also tried to protect native partners and informers - the latter no priority for Ferris' boss back at Langley, Ed Hoffman (Russell Crowe), who interferes with Ferris' operations via cell phones and satellites. In Jordan, Ferris tries to distance himself from Hoffman, a sometimes-amusing, often-enraging man who confuses pragmatism with cynicism. Ferris, who speaks fluent Arabic, also attempts to trail-blaze new relations with Arab intelligence officers, treating a regal Jordanian honcho named Hani (Mark Strong) as an equal and in some ways a superior. Despite his nationality and his profession, Ferris chances a strictly personal relationship with a half-Iranian nurse named Aisha (the lovely Golshifteh Farahani), who volunteers at a clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp. And when he concocts a fake terrorist organization to rouse Al-Saleem's competitive juices and smoke him out, he hopes to save the life of the innocent architect he framed to look like the ringleader.