THE REPORT
A morally serious investigation that demands adult discernment.
Should You Watch It?
The Report makes a strong moral case against unchecked government power. Its central investigator works relentlessly for five years to expose what he believes were torture techniques used against Muslim prisoners after 9/11—and to show that those methods were ineffective. The film also argues that officials cannot always be trusted and that people must stand up for the truth.
The cost is substantial. The interrogation scenes are disturbing and intensely violent, while the movie contains too much strong foul language. Its argument is also somewhat simplistic, one-sided, and missing important objections from the people it criticizes. Long, wordy debates further weaken its dramatic force.
If you are an adult prepared for the content and interested in the questions it raises, this is worth seeing—but not with children or young teens.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESIn 2009, former FBI agent Daniel Jones is assigned by the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” program after the 9/11 attacks. He must determine what happened, why the techniques were used, and whether they produced useful intelligence.
Working largely in secret, Jones examines government files, interviews the evidence available to him, and tries to bring his findings into public view—even as powerful officials resist him.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars means The Report has real merit but falls short of greatness. The film tells an important true-life story and gives its protagonist a compelling commitment to uncovering the truth. The flashbacks provide intensity and relieve some of the boredom in the debate scenes.
Still, the movie is often wordy, with too many lengthy conversations and lofty explanations. Its dramatic storytelling is frequently soft, and its presentation can feel superficial because it paints the issue with too broad a brush. The result is a serious, sometimes effective drama that needs more punch.
The Worldview
The film’s strongest conviction is that government power must be examined rather than blindly trusted. It presents torture as morally wrong and argues that the “enhanced interrogation” techniques did not produce important intelligence. It also exalts perseverance, truth-telling, accountability, and the courage to oppose wrongdoing.
The film’s worldview is not entirely balanced. It does not give Dr. Jim Mitchell, the psychologist who helped develop and apply the techniques, a chance to present his objections to the report’s findings. The movie also gives insufficient attention to the violent acts committed or supported by the Muslim terrorists being interrogated, and one line appears to excuse Islamist brutality. Its treatment of the subject therefore becomes overbroad and one-sided.
The film also carries an apparent pro-Democrat and anti-CIA attitude, though neither President Obama nor his CIA director comes off especially well, and neither does President George Bush or his administration. Senator Dianne Feinstein is presented as outraged and righteous, but the film does not address the other political positions the source review says complicate that portrayal. These omissions make the film’s moral argument less complete than it could be.
At its heart, The Report calls people to seek truth and resist injustice. Scripture likewise says, “let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (Amos 5:24).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Strong moral worldview has a warning about government overreach, but contains some revisionist history, some Monday-morning quarterbacking and light politically correct elements, where the protagonist reveals government officials can’t always be trusted and that power corrupts, and protagonist works relentlessly to expose the truth about the CIA’s “enhanced interrogation” techniques in the War Against Islamic Terror, which the protagonist says never really worked and amounts to torture, but the protagonist’s and the movie’s thesis is a little overbroad, one-sided and has a big revisionist hole in it, because some of the techniques are also used against American troops to help them survive such methods if they are captured (if all the techniques are considered “torture” for enemy combatants, then aren’t they also torture for friendly troops too, whatever the purpose may be?), the protagonist misquotes a famous Nazi in one scene to support his general viewpoint, the movie never gives its main “villain” a chance to defend himself, and he comes across conveniently as a little stupid and disingenuous (this could be libelous), and in one apparently politically correct line of dialogue the protagonist seems to excuse the brutality of the Islamist/Muslim terrorists the CIA and America are fighting
Foul Language
18 obscenities (about 10 “f” words), four GD profanities, and man throws up after being tortured
Violence
Extreme and intense physical violence includes CIA members inject liquid into a man’s buttocks to cause discomfort and nausea, men are hit and kicked and beaten, CIA members “waterboard” victims by funneling water into their mouths to give them the sensation of drowning, CIA members pour freezing water on man’s head, and man dies from hypothermia because they left him in his cell overnight, and images of interrogators slamming prisoners against walls or pliable wooden planks and chaining men from ceilings
Sex
No sexual content
Nudity
Upper and rear male nudity during some flashes of grown men’s naked rear ends, plus a flash of a man without underwear, but shadows and body position hide his genitals
Alcohol Use
No alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Strong miscellaneous immortality includes lying, selfishness, fraud, and cruelty, but mostly rebuked.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
What does it mean to seek truth when powerful people want information hidden?
John 8:32 · Ephesians 4:25When can skepticism toward government become wise discernment, and when can it become cynicism?
Romans 13:1–4 · 1 Thessalonians 5:21How should Christians think about the treatment of prisoners and enemies, even after terrible acts have been committed?
Matthew 5:44 · Proverbs 24:17–18What is the difference between exposing wrongdoing and seeking revenge?
Micah 6:8 · Romans 12:19The Final Word
The Report is a serious, morally engaged drama with important questions about torture, truth, and government power. Its intense content, strong language, and one-sided presentation make it unsuitable for children and young teens. For discerning adults, it is WORTH THE TRIP — ADULTS ONLY. For other options, see.
