Writer-director Rob Lurie fashions a fine parable of our times with this highly selective mirror on the Judith Miller case, a New York Times journalist who did time for not revealing her source that ousted CIA operative Valerie Plame. Inexplicably dropped in only two theaters, this well-told and acted tale deserves a second chance at home.

When comparing the narrative to the real case of Judith Miller, the major beats are much the same and if you replace Iraq with Venezuela and nonexistent WMDs with an attempted presidential assassination then you’ll have a fairly solid idea of the story Lurie is trying to tell.

For those that don’t remember, Judith Miller’s 2003 New York Times article resulted in Valerie Plame’s cover being blown which kicked off an uproar that the Bush Administration had something to do with it as Plame’s husband was a US ambassador who refuted the government’s claims that Saddam Hussein was hoarding WMDs. The government, none too happy about the negative press, brought the hammer down on the article’s author that started it all.

The film starts off with the assassination attempt and the government quickly placing blame on Venezuela. Before you can say South America, the government sends in the bombs.

Reporter Rachel Armstrong (Kate Beckinsale) learns from some mysterious sources that Venezuela wasn’t behind the assassination attempt, however, and publishes an article detailing such why also outing CIA operative Erica Van Doren (Vera Farmiga).

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