(2007, 111 min) Following on the heels of The Good Shepherd, we are given another considered drama based on intelligence activity. This time, it’s a dramatized account of a true story: the single greatest failure to the FBI community to date, the counter-intelligence mayhem created by one Robert Hanssen, an agent who leaked documents and revealed the identities of at least twenty agents to the Russians for over twenty years. Billy Ray (Shattered Glass) scripts and directs this high impact story with finesse, attributable to the extra-fine acting of Chris Cooper (as Hanssen) and the better than average work of Ryan Phillippe (who plays Eric O’Neill, the agent planted to spy on the spy). Laura Linney as agent Burroughs, heads up the ultra-secret internal affairs group that orchestrates the trap that ultimately ensnares agent Hanssen. Out of necessity, the storyline stays mostly on the surface, Billy Ray wisely avoids adding his own subtext, neither political nor psychological to the linear narrative.
What is ambiguous, and probably so in reality, is the motivation behind the actions by Hannsen. Clearly stating that it wasn’t for the money, the audience is left to draw their own conclusions based on the fleshing out of Hannsen’s character. He is a devout Catholic, going to Mass every day, yet surreptiously videotapes his wife and himself during their lovemaking sessions. We come to understand that this is an extremely arrogant man, angry with the intelligence community at large and holding himself as superior in intelligence to all other agents. This is probably the motive. He did it because he could. Simple, chilling but almost assuredly true.
The key to the success of this film is obviously the command exhibited by Cooper. He brings the tonal shadings of characterization first glimpsed in American Beauty. The homophobia, extreme nationalism, and adherence to “family” values are a veneer to the underbelly of an amoral monster, barely able to contain his nihilistic rage. Breach engages the viewer from the first frame and refuses to let go until the final, memorable image of Cooper, alone with his crime.
© TLA Entertainment Group
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