'SMEAR AND FEAR'
Early in the film, veteran diplomat Wilson is dispatched by the U.S. government to Niger to investigate reports of a large purchase of uranium by the Iraqi government.
Wilson concludes no such deal took place, but the White House uses the debunked uranium sale as proof that Iraq is developing a nuclear weapon. An outraged Wilson writes an article refuting the claim in The New York Times.
Shortly thereafter, Plame's covert identity is leaked to high-profile Washington journalists, ending her career and endangering informants in Iraq who had provided intelligence on Saddam Hussein's weapons program.
The Wilsons' private life is thrust into the center of Washington politics. Although the origin of the leak is unknown, MSNBC show host Chris Matthews told Wilson that Bush's powerful adviser Karl Rove said Plame was "fair game."
Only Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, was indicted in connection with the investigation of Plame's leaked identity. He was convicted, but Bush commuted the sentence before he served jail time.
"While it was the Bush administration, it could just as easily have been any other administration because the message is the abuse of power," said Plame, whose book "Fair Game" was heavily redacted by the CIA due to classified information.
Wilson is more pointed in his criticism and hopes the movie will "clear up a lot of confusion that was deliberately sown by the administration," which he accuses of "a several-year campaign of character assassination, and smear and fear."
Penn nails Wilson's intensity, and what Plame called "that sense of rage and you're not going to get me without a fight."
And what does Wilson see in Watts' portrayal of his wife?
"Her inner strength, the strength of character and her ability to ensure with equanimity all this stuff that she had to put up with through this period," he said. "I fall in love with my wife anew, every time I watch the movie."