Reality, the HBO biopic starring Sydney Sweeney, depicts the true story of whistleblower Reality Winner, and the actual events of her life are as fascinating and distressing as the ones shown in the movie. Reality is the first movie by playwright Tina Satter, and it follows the title character after she has released secret government documents to the press. With the plot in media res, the action starts with Reality being confronted by FBI agents with a search warrant. During the investigation, Reality converses with Agent Taylor (Marchánt Davis) and Agent Garrick (Josh Hamilton), and the transcript of what they say to each other overlays the rest of the movie.

Reality is a tense, claustrophobic, one-room "bottle" movie that does an admirable job of showing both sides while hinting at how Reality Winner’s rights may have been violated in an intimidating environment. The film has a 97% critic score on...