6.5 / 10. A tense, well-crafted film which maintains a good sense of mystery throughout

Truth is a tense, well-crafted film set in an interview room with only two characters. It maintains a good sense of mystery throughout, that slowly unspools, revealing past secrets ...

The film features great performances by both Rachel Alig as the interviewer, and an intense Eric Paul Erickson as Xavier Faraday, who also wrote and directed the film.

The past is kept vague but it sounds The Handmaid’s Tale, Gilead-esque from the snippets of information provided through dialogue about a civil war in, I assume, the USA and/or Canada, that has raged for many years.

A prisoner, Lieutenant Colonel Xavier Faraday, is to be interviewed following his capture during a failed revolution. His interviewer from the Truth and Reconciliation Committee (Rachel Alig), is there to question Faraday and assess his submission for amnesty under the new political regime. Faraday is questioned about his actions during the war, and voice tapes are played as evidence, following which there are twists in the tale and the characters stories and motivations adapt throughout up to the conclusion.

Truth holds your attention with good dialogue and interaction between the two characters. There isn’t a lot of information given about events leading up to this point, and it makes you think about the questions being asked and what has happened, more becomes clear as the film goes on. Atrocities of war including racism and genocide, are mentioned which are shocking and create sympathy for those involved without giving any graphic scenes of events. This is powerful, and a sadly realistic depiction of war and soldiers’ actions therein.

It could have been a little shorter, due to the nature of the film and as it’s very dialogue driven, and the ending is ambiguous, which works, but maybe the conclusion could have been fleshed out a little.

Also, don’t read the synopsis information provided with the film before hand – it gives too much away.