extrajudicial killings in The Interpreter

My dad bought a 12-in-one DVD from Divisoria yesterday. When he had intended to have bought a Charlie Chaplin collection, the DVD ended up to be a Nicole Kidman collection. One of Kidman's movies included in the disk was The Interpreter (2005).

In the movie, Dr. Edmond Zuwanie is the president of the Republic of Matobo, a fictional country in Africa. Ruling for more than 20 years, Dr. Zuwanie had allegedly killed hundreds of citizen and revolutionaries to maintain power. He planned an assasination plot to justify the killings.

Silvia Broome, played by Nicole Kidman, is an interpreter for the United Nations. A citizen of Matobo whose family actively participate in the arm struggle and were killed as ordered by Dr. Zuwanie, she too, once a revolutionary and left to work for UN believing that there are peaceful means to achieve the same cause. She overhears the plot to kill the hated dictator and tells US security. When her brother gets killed, she takes on arms once more in attempt to kill the dictator herself.

The last few scenes in the movie shows Dr. Zuwanie in a sort of safe room with Broome and Tobin Keller, a federal agent played by Sean Penn. Keller begs Broome not to kill Dr. Zhumie such that evidence exist of the dictator's ill actions and that he will surely be tried for his ill actions. True enough, in the end Dr. Zuwanie gets tried by the United Nations for the death of hundreds of citizen.

“The gunfire around us makes it hard to hear; but the human voice is different from other sounds. It can be heard over noises that bury everything else, even when it’s not shouting, even when it’s just a whisper. Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies when it’s telling the truth.”

So the United Nations can get itself involved? And a leader can really be tried for extrajudicial killings? Or I'm just being too hopeful in getting justice to all these inhumanity happening to the revolutionaries, reformists and innocent citizens of this country?

But then, even if this movie truly proposes a possible resolution to the extrajudicial killings, should I even bother to be hopeful when the United Nations is still in fact United States with small voices around him. When the Philippine president is known to have good ties with international leaders specifically the US president, will the idea even have a chance. Keeping in mind that US does not recognize the idea of state terrorism that leaders may actually be the ones inciting terror in order to stay in power, that through this present president, resources in the Philippines have been, are, and will be exploited by foreign investors that will benefit their own development, is there still space for a hopeful change in the system?

Silvia Broome, from revolutionary, chose to be a reformist but still saw the need for arm struggle. Should this administration wait until reformists lose hope and join the revolution to bring change to this country? Anyway, as the cliche goes, the president is the biggest recruiter of NPA.

Idealism dictates that societal change can be achieved and unless this idealism will cease to exist, neither extrajudicial killings nor a balikatan exercise will ever stop people's attempts for change. I hope the president realizes that.