“An Acceptable Loss” stars Jamie Lee Curtis, Tika Sumpter, Ben Tavassoli and Jeff Hephner.
A former government official finds herself a target when she contemplates revealing the secrets that lead to a decisive but controversial military victory.
She was the ultimate patriot. Now, what she knows could bring down the government.
Libby Lamm (Tika Sumpter) is a former top national security advisor who, while working with Rachel Burke (Jamie Lee Curtis), a ruthless, steely-willed political veteran, signed off on a controversial military action that was supposed to end the war on terror. The problem: thousands died under false pretenses.
Haunted by what she knows, Libby sets out to tell the truth, risking treason — and her own life — to expose a cover-up that stretches all the way to the highest levels of government.
This gripping saga of lies, conspiracy, and betrayal is an explosive look at what it takes to do the right thing — even if that means going up against your own country.
“An inspiration for this story are two documentaries by the filmmaker Errol Morris, ‘The Fog of War’ and ‘The Unknown Known’,” said director Joe Chappelle. “The first is about the life and times of Robert McNamara, Secretary of Defense under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, and who oversaw the escalation of American involvement in the Vietnam War. The second concerns Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. While McNamara, regretful, acknowledges that he was wrong on his war, Rumsfeld remains defiant, convinced he would make the same choices years later. Two wars, two debacles and two very different reactions from the men who ran them. I found this fascinating and they became the inspiration for the characters Elizabeth and Rachel in ‘An Acceptable Loss’.”