Let's be realistic.

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

The artistry in this film is evident, the plot is gripping from beginning to end. I was pleased to see so many familiar faces in the cast: Betsy Blair, (a 1955 Oscar Nominee for "Marty"), "Frasier" dad John Mahoney, John Heard, and character actor Ted Levine ("Silence of the Lambs") all are here, and all do a wonderful job.The plot unfolds slowly at first, with only faint hints of what is to come. (Actually, the less you know about this film going in, the more you will be surprised by it.) The "wholesome" farm community which seems so "normal" holds so much more--something troubling and sinister. But yet, these people still retain that "wholesome" normalness to them, even after we see what is underneath. The "normalness" never completely goes away, and in some cases, we still are actually able to sympathize with these characters, as depraved as they are. As a previous reviewer said, the "insanity of normality". "Betrayed" depicts this well. The whole cast is wonderful--Winger is compelling and convincing, as is the rest of the cast. The characterization (and acting) of Tom Berenger as the "insane/normal" Gary should be applauded particularly. All through the film his character is consistent--a man with a "normal" ability to love those close to him. Even when see how his motivations and world view are so completely warped, we see a Gary who feels deeply, loves, and wants many the "normal" things in life. These qualities do not disappear when the darker side of him is revealed, which makes his character all the more fascinating and even sympathetic at times. The "insanity of normality" is most evident in his character.The production quality of 'Betrayed ' is good with fine acting all around. Honorable mention is deserved by underrated actor John Heard who plays Katy's commander and suitor. In 1988 he was still thin.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

From the mid-sixties to the early eighties, Costa-Gavras made an enviable run of movies. When he moved to Hollywood he made one last great movie, the 1982 thriller missing. Since then his work has deteriorated. Betrayed belongs to this period of deterioration.In a rare instance for Costa-Gavras, the movie is not co-written by him. Nor is it co-written by his usual screenwriters - Franco Solinas or Jorge Semprún. It's written by Joe Eszterhas, arguably one of the worst screenwriters Hollywood ever had. Betrayed is not as bad as Showgirls or Basic Instinct, however, and actually has a credible premise.Debra Winger plays Catherine Weaver, an FBI agent working undercover, whose mission is to insinuate herself in the life of Gary Simmons (Tom Berenger), a man suspected of having ties with white supremacists and possibly the murderer of a well-known and polemical talk radio host. Catherine falls in love with Gary, becomes intimate with him, is accepted in his house by his mother and children. She can't believe such a kind, noble man could be a murder.Then one night he takes her to go hunting a black man he and his friends have kidnapped for the purpose of sport. This sequence defines everything great and wrong about the movie: on the one hand, it's a chilling, disturbing sequence; on the other hand, it's ridiculous that Gary would share such a dangerous part of his life to a woman he barely knew. The viewer needs to excuse such situations many times in the movie.The title of the movie is an interesting choice and refers to the betrayal Catherine is committing: after all, she's accepted and well treated by Gary and his friends (with the exception of the psychotic Wes, played by an amazing Ted Levine). She constantly feels torn apart between her loyalties to the FBI and the love she has for Gary and his family. Debra Winger captures the emotional conflict very well.But it's Tom Berenger that steals the movie as the sweet, polite rancher who secretly organises an army and plots to overthrow the ZOG - Zionist-Occupied Government. Berenger plays Gary as a very human and even likable man. This movie deserves merit for not demonising Gary and his followers and for giving him a sound, coherent voice, even if it's fueled by hatred and twisted logic.Betrayed is never an awful movie; in fact it's quite enjoyable. But it doesn't feel like a Costa-Gavras movie. Anyone could have directed this and get the same result. And the ending is so sentimental and sweet, it seems forced, and hardly representative of the work of a man who has made bleak movies like Z, The Confession, State of Siege, Special Section or Missing.

At a crucial moment in the movie, the racist militia group that is the focus of the movie robs a bank, and one of their own are killed by an FBI agent. When asked shortly thereafter how he felt about the killing, the agent says that it was no more than wiping dirt off of his shoe. We often like to think of those people who engage in hatred and violence as being completely "unhuman". We want to believe that they are without emotions, without humanity, without integrity and mostly without love. In short, we want to believe that those with monstrous attitudes are only monsters and nothing else. And it is not so, which is I think the point of "Betrayed". People who adhere to what mainstream society judges as dangerous prejudices are in fact much more complex and often have more of humanity than we would like to believe.The story centers around two characters: Gary Simmons, played with much tact and depth by Tom Berenger, a leader of a local white supremacist militia group, and Catherine Weaver, alias Katie Phillips (played with complete believability and subtleness by Debra Winger), the FBI Agent who infiltrates the group. Her goal: to link Simmons and his group with the slaying of a leftist shock-jock who is slain at the beginning of the film, an incident which closely resembles the real-life assassination of Denver radio talk show host Alan Berg, a leftist personality known for hanging up on callers and other on-the-air rudeness. (In real life he was the most popular and simultaneously the most hated radio host in his geographic area.) The FBI also wants to undercover any future plans the group may be concocting that might involve assassinating celebrities and/or politicians.At first, Phillips believes the FBI have targeted the wrong people since despite their use of the N-word and occasional racist jokes, they appear to be peaceful friendly and neighborly, they appear to respect women, and they often give a helping hand to those in need. Gary Simmons is a loyal father, a model citizen who speaks his mind, a hard-worker, and a straight-shooter. He always tries to do the right thing. He is low key and doesn't speak often about his political views. And Phillips also finds herself quite taken with his two beautiful children who are innocent while simultaneously being indoctrinated with prejudice that may manifest itself later as hate and violence. To add to the confusion, Phillips finds herself falling for Simmons, wanting to believe that he is the wrong man.But as Phillips sinks deeper into the family and friends of those around Simmons, she learns she is very wrong. After Simmons takes her "hunting", a deadly game in which a captured African-American is then hunted by a group of whites like a British Fox Hunt with automatic weapons, she realizes there is more to this group than her initial observations would indicate. Then a camping trip reveals that it is true, that Simmons and his close associates are members of a complex supremacist group with connections all over the country to people who believe that Jews, African-Americans, Gays, and Lesbians, and almost any other non-white ethnic group are intending to exterminate their livelihoods if not their lives. They have rationalized that they have to fight back. And these groups are their targets for not only hatred but for proposed violent engagements.Phillips' other world is her FBI associates that keep pushing her to stay the course and complete her mission by staying within the family. Unlike her mid-west "family", the FBI team are emotionless, less sympathetic to the traumatic toll the assignment is taking on Phillips, and rather cold about what they are really doing. The government agents have little understanding that despite racists' destructive attitudes, they are real people who love, who grieve, and want happiness. While the FBI wants to put the racists into a convenient stereotypical box, Phillips realizes there is much more to these people than their hate. But she does find that their flawed perception of reality lies within a complex myriad of rationalizations that serve to construct their world-view. They have convinced themselves that only their hate and violence can save them.The movie becomes a struggle between these two worlds, and at one point, Phillips begins to question which side is the "good" side, and ultimately she must make a choice between the two. The irony is that if we want to "fight" prejudice we can't "fight" the people, as it only fuels the next generation of racists and proves their point. Maybe we can't even fight the attitudes. Maybe we need to love them despite their attitudes and maybe that would foster more love as it appears that hate only breeds more hate regardless of which side we are on.

It is a shame that we do not get to see much of Costa-Gavras' work here in America. The last film I remember is Z. he is a master of the political story, and this film tells a story about America that we really don't like to think about.Costa-Gavras does his best work when he also writes the screenplay. Unfortunately here we get Joe Eszterhas, master of some of the worst crap to hit the silver screen - An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn, Showgirls, Sliver, Jade, Flashdance. What could have been a great story is merely adequate.Debra Winger is just not credible as an undercover FBI agent. I just never believed in her. That, except for the story, was the weakest part of the film.Tom Berenger did a great job as a racist pinhead. If they make a movie about the Oklahoma City bombing, he should play the bomber.Great support by John Mahoney. he delivered the crucial line of the film: The bank took my farm, and Vietnam took my son, and I am left with nothing. Typical of these racists to blame all their failures on others. Why don't they try some Kipling for a change:If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; That's a man, not these whiny jerks.