![]() I know that there are right-wing paramilitary groups in America. And as that level of the plot unfolded, I began to have problems. The thriller doesn’t hinge on Berenger’s behavior, but on how Winger will save herself from almost certain exposure. This is essentially the same dilemma that Eszterhas created for Glenn Close in “Jagged Edge.” Can she trust the man she loves, or is he, as all evidence seems to indicate, a two-faced killer? In that film, the audience did not know the answer until the last moment, but in “Betrayed” the answer is obvious from fairly early on (even the title is a giveaway). Then, as the film’s center of gravity shifts, it becomes mostly Winger’s story, and she is wonderful at creating sympathy as Costa-Gavras turns up the heat, trapping her between love and danger. Winger and Berenger form a sympathetic couple right from the start, and even well into the story there is a residual feeling that this Iowa farmer cannot be as two-faced and racist as he seems. The plot, as it unfolds, is cleverly constructed by writer Joe Eszterhas (who crafted the diabolical double-reverses in “ Jagged Edge”) and director Costa-Gavras (who has specialized in clandestine right-wing groups in movies like “ Z” and “ Missing”). His desire to share his hidden life creates some of the weirdest scenes in the film, because there is such an ironic tension between the ultraright paramilitary organization he belongs to and the pop psychology of his language when he explains that they must be open with each other and share the things that are important. His first wife left because she could not endure his world of secret paranoia, but he realizes he must be honest with Winger because he loves her. But then, after she falls more deeply in love with Berenger, he decides to trust her with his secrets. How can this be true? How can this honest, open-faced farmer from a world of Sunday church services and apple pie be a neo-Nazi killer? At first Winger doesn’t believe it, and she tells her FBI contacts that they are after the wrong man. It is an undercover thriller, and we quickly learn that Winger is an FBI agent and that Berenger is suspected of being part of a secret right-wing terrorist organization that is responsible for the murder of a left-wing Chicago talk show host. ![]()
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