True espionage stories can be bland and quite unentertaining. Last year's The Good Shepherd showed us what real life espionage was like. It's not a James Bond type character charming the ladies and using cool gadgets to get away and save the day. It's paperwork. It's a lot of time where nothing really happens, waiting for those rare moments that pay off with valuable information or resources. If a movie is going to tell a true story of espionage, it has to have solid, interesting characters to balance out the lack of pizzazz. The Good Shepherd didn't. Breach, on the other hand, does.
Breach focuses on Eric O'Neil (Ryan Phillippe), a young man in the Federal Bureau of Investigations who is pushing to become an agent. Instead of the brash upstart character, O'Neil is portrayed as quite a nice guy. He credits his partners when he submits proposals for upgrades to FBI systems instead of taking all the credit for himself and potentially getting on a faster track. He honestly cares about serving his country, so it is with trepidation that he accepts a new assignment as an office clerk for Robert Hanssen, a former American spy on the Soviet Union.
At first O'Neil is told his assignment is to keep an eye on Hanssen due to the former agent's sexual deviancy. The portrayal of Hanssen by Chris Cooper seems appropriately creepy for a sexual deviant at first. He doesn't say much, keeping to himself and passing judgment on just about everyone he encounters. The first confrontation between O'Neil and Hanssen is unsettling, with Hanssen sizing up the rookie clerk solely with his eyes. Not much else needs to be said.
O'Neil begins to doubt his assignment as he gets to know Hanssen, however. He can't find any proof of any deviancy. Despite constant checking, there is no history of Hanssen visiting the alleged websites and communities he's supposed to be a part of. In fact, Hanssen is a strong practicing Catholic with a wife and kids who love him. He even goes out of his way to help Eric with his own family problems and starts mentoring him on the bureaucracy of the FBI and how to attain his desired position as an agent. Other than just being a bit creepy and a bit socially awkward, Hanssen seems like a good enough of a guy. That's when O'Neil finds out the true reason for the investigation: Robert Hanssen is a traitor, selling American secrets and information to enemies as a double agent.
Breach is a great example of how to build a movie off of great characters, and even greater actors. There isn't a weak performance here, and both the script and actors make these characters interesting people that we want to learn more about or see in action. Laura Linney and Ryan Phillippe both play characters with some considerable depth to them. Similarly lost, Linney's Kate Burroughs wants Hanssen locked up because his treachery undoes the good work of her career and Eric wants to serve his country, but begins to question what that entails as his job begins to separate him from those who he loves. Even some of the smaller parts get a nice complexity in the hands of capable actors like Gary Cole and Dennis Haysbert.
The true crowning achievement of the film, however, is the handling of Robert Hanssen. It would have been very easy in this era to turn Hanssen into an over the top villain; someone who revels in the damage he's creating in his disloyalty for his country. Hell, a presentation like that could almost be unifying for the audience. Instead Chris Cooper gives Hanssen a wonderful depth that is simultaneously sinister and sympathetic. For a man responsible for the largest act of treason the country has ever seen, there is a lot of good within Cooper's presentation of Hanssen. There isn't an overt "good" or "bad" quality given to the character by the script, but the life that Cooper gives the man simply with the performance of his eyes is the stuff acting legends are made of. There is no effort to justify why a good Catholic and family man is betraying his country so - in fact, the rationale behind that is barely explored, but Cooper's performance shows us that the decision isn't an easy one, nor is it without internal conflict throughout Hanssen's life.
Co-writer/Director Billy Ray creates an interesting feel for the movie - one of tension and constant suspicion. At first we wonder if Hanssen truly is the pervert he's accused of being and his attitude helps build that suspicion. Later comes the suspicion and tension that truly builds an espionage picture - will O'Neil get caught or get the needed evidence' Some of this comes from the assembly of the movie from the script to the final edit. The majority, however, comes from Ray letting the actors carry the weight of the situation they are in and play off each other. It takes a good director to know when to interfere with a movie's progression and when to stay out of the way and here Ray shows he has the potential to be a fantastic director just by letting the actors do their jobs.
If Breach isn't the best picture of the year, it will certainly be the most overlooked one. With a miserable February release, it's regrettable that Chris Cooper's brilliance probably won't be remembered when awards season rolls around. 2007 is in need of a serious drama like Breach to remind us just how good film can be. Unfortunately it's already here and many have already missed it. |
Breach - DVD
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