When I was in high school, I spent a week studying at the United Nations in New York and was fascinated by the work done by the interpreters, to the point where I'd put on one of the rather uncomfortable earpieces and flip through the selections, listening to parts of a speech in Spanish or French or Russian rather than pay attention to the English being spoken.

Perhaps that's why I was so riveted to "The Interpreter," an old-style sophisticated thriller from director Sydney Pollock that stars Nicole Kidman as a U.N. interpreter who overhears what might be an assassination plot and Sean Penn as the Secret Service agent assigned to the case.

Kidman's Silvia Broome works in the glass booths that ring the upper reaches of the UN's cavernous General Assembly room, translating to and from the African languages and dialects she learned while growing up in Matobo (a fictional nation created for the film).

Returning to her booth at night to pick up a bag she has left there, Silvia hears a bit of a conversation through her headphones — talk that might indicate that someone might be trying to kill Matobo's President Zuwanie (Earl Cameron), a liberator-turned-dictator who is accused of genocide and is on his way to New York to defend his regime.

When she reports the conversation, Secret Service agents Tobin Keller (Penn) and Dot Woods (Catherine Keener) are assigned to investigate. Suspicious by nature and sure she knows more than she is saying, Tobin looks into Silvia's past and finds some connections between her and Zuwanie's opposition.

But, through a series of incidents and revelations, none of which will be disclosed here, Tobin begins to think differently about Silvia and develops a protective attitude toward a woman who does her best to thwart her protectors.

Meanwhile, the assassination plot becomes ever more complicated and deadly.

But the deadly part of "The Interpreter" is more in keeping with "Three Days of the Condor," Pollack's 1975 CIA thriller, than with contemporary blow-'em-up pictures in which pyrotechnics and breathless chases are substituted for real suspense.

In large part, that's because "The Interpreter" is a movie about real people, not today's one-dimensional cardboard cutout characters. While the film teems with characters, from members of Tobin's team to U.N. cops and diplomats and African activists, it belongs to Penn and Kidman.

Two of the best actors working today, they deliver perfectly nuanced performances. There are little of the over-the-top histrionics that many associate with thriller acting. They are playing meticulous, measured, intelligent people, and that's what comes across on screen.

There's another "character" that adds considerably to the effectiveness of "The Interpreter." Pollack was able to get permission to film inside the United Nations building. So the scenes in the General Assembly meeting room are taking place in the real General Assembly meeting room — something almost unheard of in political films — giving it uncanny realism.

"The Interpreter" isn't a great film. In part, that might be because it's hard to get too caught up in the assassination plot beyond its impact on Silvia. But it could have been better, more captivatingly written.

Even so, with Penn and Kidman giving great performances and Pollack applying his old-pro skills to the picture, "The Interpreter" is an effective, engaging thriller.

Especially if you've spent any time at all at the United Nations.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.

The Intepreter

(3 ½ stars)

Director: Sydney Pollack

Stars: Sean Penn, Nicole Kidman, Catherine Keener, Earl Cameron

Rated: PG-13 (for violence, some sexual content and brief strong language)

Now Showing: Grand, Edgewood, SouthPointe

The Reel Story: Kidman and Penn give great performances as a United Nations interpreter who overhears talk of a possible assassination and a Secret Service agent assigned to the case in this old-style thriller that's more about characters than explosions.