The movie, starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and directed by Sidney Lumet, is originally a made for TV movie aired by HBO in 2004. The fact that one of my favorite actresses worked with one of my favorite directors alone is already enough joy for me, and add to it a strip search! Hmmm!

With the run time of 120 minutes, it depicted a story of how a graduate student from the USA (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal) is detained in China while at the same time an Arab man in the USA (played by Bruno Lastra) is taken by FBI, both under the suspicion of terrorism. In the end, both were forced to undergo a cavity search by their respective detainers. Too bad, due to its controversial nature, HBO cut it heavily, reducing it to mere 56 minutes and pulled it out from its subscription forever. And sadly, all I watched was the 56 minutes version (with the great deal of nudity left out), but I'll say one thing: despite its flaws, this movie may contain the best strip search scene in any mainstream movie (courtesy of the gorgeous Maggie). And by mainstream, of course I'm not including sexploitation and porn movies. And since this is a GIMP review, I'll completely leave out how the man is strip searched, yeah? I mean, we're all here not for that, aren't we?

In the 56 minutes version, we started with a group of Chinese soldiers taking Maggie, here playing the role of Linda Sykes, to a prison when she was having dinner with her friends:

There, we were introduced to the interrogator Liu played by Ken Leung. And this is the start of an experience she will never forget:

He bombarded her with questions and evidences pointing out to the fact she has some connection with terrorist planning to bomb China. After 20-25 minutes of back and forth debate with no legit result due to Linda’s persistence, Liu met with his boss and the ambassador of the USA in China. Linda has pretty much been playing the ‘tough girl’ role. Though she was scared and intimidated by the risk she may be facing, anything Liu said practically was for nothing, so a verbal battle will do him no good. After the ambassador ensured Liu the matter will not reach the government of USA, Liu knew what that means: he can go all out, and Linda won't like it.

When the camera spanned back to the interrogation chamber, we were shown it was hours after Linda’s initial detaining and it’s already morning now. Liu went back inside as she was having some sit ups, possibly to keep her mind in calm. Things go awry for her when Liu put up some gloves and told her to “Take your clothes off, I'm going to do a strip search”.

Of course Linda rejected, trying to argue she has the right to see someone from her embassy. Finally running out of patience, Liu tore her shirt off by force:

From then on, Linda lost her composure and tried to cover herself to no avail. Truth be told, there's a little touch I really like in here. I fancy how after ripping of her shirt, all Liu did was giving little pushes for Linda to slowly take her clothes off. Liu started by removing her shirt. And then he pointed to her bra, which she embarrassingly removed as well. When she was in topless state, Liu leaned his back on the wall and reminded her that her skirt is still intact, so it must go as well. I think it was a good decision from Lumet to shoot this entire scene from behind, giving us a good look of Linda’s back.

We really got the gist of unwillingness & humiliation from Linda’s character. The one little touch I really like is when Linda was slowly removing her skirt because Linda used one arm to cover her breasts while the one was doing the deed, it really added the feeling of “yeah, that is probably something anyone would do in real life if they were put to that situation”. The fact that it was done slowly adds to the power and control Liu begun to possess over Linda. She was presented to him in her purest form, with nothing to cover her dignity. This is a very good start to a cavity search and very natural too!

Being a Sydney Lumet movie, it’s only normal if the performances in this movie are natural. And that’s what Maggie showed in here. She made sure we saw Linda now knows this is serious, she’s got no way to go. And the fact Liu actually took his time watching and waiting until Linda's arms tire themselves from covering her breasts and crotch is another little touch to adore. It is indirectly saying "take your time, I know you won't last". Another humiliation for Linda. And her not making any eye contact also adds more legitimacy to the torment her character is bearing. This is good writing & acting all combined.

And of course she didn't last, visible from her finally lowering her arms and giving us a look of her nice body:

Curvy, bushy, and bountiful, just the way I like it.

And it didn't take long for Liu to begin by starting the cavity search from her mouth, mocking her to open it wider like during oral sex when she refused to do so, explaining to her what cavity search means when he’s doing so. This is another subtle touch from the screenwriter. In reality, we all know Liu & Linda knew nothing would have been found by checking Linda’s mouth. Liu just did that because he could and there was nothing Linda could do about it.

After making Linda admit she was a lesbian, Liu then remarked whether or not she would feel something if he fingers her, to which she roughly yelled “DON'T!”. Liu mocked her back by saying, “Oh, don't? Did you just say don't?” in a condescending tone, as if letting her know it’s not her place to get “rough”, so to speak. Linda lowered her voice this time, and said “Please, don't”, to which Liu replied with another mockery by saying, “Hmm, now that’s kinda sweet”. Linda admitting herself as a lesbian will prove to be her downfall. But the torment doesn't stop there, Liu chided that she reminded her of a frightened little girl before proceeding to have a feel of her bare nipples with his finger:

It did not take long for Linda to react by trying to push him away to no avail, because he retaliated.

What I really like from this whole scene is the fact Linda didn't look at Liu unless he made a remark of touching her or actually touched her. The whole time, she looked to the ceiling or the wall. Now, just FYI, I've been told people avoid eye contact when they're scared or intimidated. So this was a nice move from Miss Gyllenhaal because that means the reality level of the scene has just increased.

Next up, showing her power over her again, Liu allowed Linda to sit back a little while they both mocked each other, but Liu eventually had the upper hand when he showed her evidences and possible witness, her ex-lesbian lover:

Linda finally broke down and cried. Pitying her, Liu gave her back her shirt though it did not cover much to be honest:

Then, they went back and forth explaining why they both protected what they believed, ending up with Liu losing his patience for the second time. This time, she had Linda placed her hands palm flat to the wall. We all know what’s coming next: an anal examination. Liu remarked how this is his less favorite part, but we all know it’s not true.

Linda took one last shot by mocking Liu’s result, prompting Liu to remove her shirt by force one more time before starting to feel Linda. We got a nice close-up of Liu feeling up her forehead, and then down to her breasts, which he groped nicely (lucky man!). Linda's face indicated her giving in, unwillingly of course. He really took his time fondling her right breast, and then the left one:

But hell, if I had gotten the chance I'd have taken my time too, LOL! And then he went down to her waist & derrière:

We were not shown the actual anal examination & crotch rubbing, but you can tell from the close up to Linda’s face that it was not comfortable (duh!):

Liu made a remark how he can just put her into custody with no clothes on, so that everyday he got a chance to feel her up however he likes. And he’s going to do it so often, that Linda will need his fingers around her privates like she needs food or air. And the best part is, he’s going to lay his fingers on her body countless times then even when he isn't there to please himself, she will always feel the sensation of his hands on her form. Giving up, Linda finally broke down and fell to her knees, admitting her crime.

Now, this is quite a great scene. I love how Liu told her what he’s going to do to her like it’s just a story to remember, and the close up with Linda eventually raising the white flag was pretty well done as well. We closed the movie with the scene of Liu leaving the room after telling Linda someone will come to process her and Linda brutally destroying the furniture inside the chamber to unleash her anger over her defeat:

And by the looks of it, I don't think she cares if the process needs her naked as well, LOL!

Alright, and that's all for the GIMP scene in the movie. One of the reasons MG is one of my favorite actresses is the legitimacy she brings to her role and the fact she's willing to go to lengths many famous actresses won't go. With that rack and a cute face, I kinda facepalm myself whenever someone tells me she's ugly or got a dog face.

All in all, the GIMP scene in this feature got an A- from me. Though it may be the best mainstream strip search scene for now, it doesn't have the A+ which is two levels higher than the grade I give because of two reasons:

i. Liu giving Linda her clothes back was dumb considering he wasn't there to comfort her, it barely covered anything, and it went off pretty soon after. Complete nudity length was reduced in there.

ii. The anal examination and crotch rubbing should have been shown explicitly. As I said before, MG didn't hide a thing. No reasons why it couldn't have been done.