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7TH JAN 2009
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 Breach starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney is reviewed by Matt Arnoldi
Inspired by a true story, Breach, written and directed by Billy Ray is a riveting rendering of the real-life case of FBI agent Robert Hanssen, who in the US in 2001, was charged with committing espionage, in a big publicity exposé.
Breach takes you back to John Le Carré classics like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and Spycatcher, since this is all about the suspicions of the FBI towards the behaviour of one of its own and in its attempts to expose wrongdoing, you get a fascinating insight into how organisations like the FBI work. As such it’s a decent dissection into clandestine spy procedures and the lonely lives that special agents lead.
The film opens with a young rookie Eric O’Neill (Phillippe) being plucked out of training by Special Agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) to be given the tricky detail of working with veteran spy Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) on a new form of protocol procedure that the FBI can adopt. For seasoned veteran Hanssen this project is demotion, taking him out of the line of fire just before retirement. For O’Neill, this is a job he must carry out, whilst quietly observing everything Hanssen does and reporting back to Laura Linney’s coldly professional Special Agent Burroughs.
O’Neill is told that Hanssen has been a naughty boy with a penchant for going too far with female operatives and looking at risqué material on the net, but O’Neill needs to know more and soon he is told what the real deal is and what we know from the start, ie. that Hanssen has been a spy for the Russians.
The film then will follow how O’Neill reacts and Hanssen’s behaviour. Will Hanssen realise that O’Neill has been watching him ? Will O’Neill be able to gain the trust of Hanssen and still keep his cover quiet ? Will Hanssen give him the slip at any point ?
Breach is beautifully worked, a top spy thriller, all the more fascinating since it’s based on a true story. The pulsating interaction between actors Chris Cooper (Adaptation, Silver City, the Bourne Trilogy) and Ryan Phillippe (Crash, Gosford Park, Cruel Intentions) is at the heart of the film but it also looks impressive with cinematographer Tak Fujimoto (The Manchurian Candidate) particularly excelling in making the film’s locations look cold and indiscriminate, with the bureaucracy literally seeping through the walls oof cold and passionless spy-filled corridors and rooms.
There are times when you think Breach is only as good as it gets. The depth of this film is in the central characters’ interaction. The testing conversations between Hanssen and O’Neill when Hanssen is working out if he can trust his work colleague, or the meetings between young O’Neill and Agent Burroughs as O’Neill goes from thinking the FBI is wonderful, to thinking is this really the career for me ?
In some ways you don’t find out a lot about the secrets that Hanssen in real-life divulged but perhaps that is still classified information closely guarded by the State, but rewarding at least is an insight into what may have drove Hanssen to commit the crimes in the first place. Plus the performances at the heart of the film are first-rate in what is effectively a character-driven piece
Provided by The Student Zone (United Kingdom) |
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