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.Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) gets suspicious of FBI trainee Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) |
Cold War sends chills down spine
BREACH
Directed by Billy ray
Certificate 12a
THE screen opens with the arrest of one Robert Hanssen, a name familiar to devotees of the shady world of espionage.
On the surface an average Joe, in his 50s, smartly dressed, a face in the crowd you wouldn’t look at twice – unless you looked more closely.
Then you might notice the sharp, restless eyes, the tight mouth, the constant tension coiled like a snake inside him.
Flashback two months, and we learn the truth about Robert Hanssen (played by Chris Cooper in one of the most rivetting performances of the year). In 25 long years with the FBI he became a respected Soviet analyst, held in awe for his brilliant mind – while all the time he was actually a double agent, selling invaluable secrets to the Russians during the Cold War and afterwards.
Billy Ray’s meticulously crafted film charts the two months leading up to his arrest when the FBI planted a young agent (Ryan Phillippe) in his office as his assistant to draw Hanssen from cover. As his hard-nosed boss (Laura Linney) tells him tersely: “This is the worst breach in the history of US Intelligence.”
From the start we’re into a battle of wits in a world of shadows and smoky mirrors. But finally the ice starts to melt between them, the youngster wins the trust of the suspect – and in turn starts to respect him, refusing to believe his duplicity.
Knowing it’s based on fact gives added impact to penetrating the inner sanctum of the FBI. Hanssen sold thousands of classified documents to Russia during the Cold War and afterwards, and was responsible for the execution of scores of US agents in the field.
Cooper brings him alive with an unnerving performance that will send shivers down your spine. With scarcely a twitch in those graven features he conveys a man hiding volcanic levels of anger under the demeanour of everyday life. As the mole set to trap a mole, Phillippe is the perfect foil.
This film has all the qualities of the Stasi drama The Lives of Others – scarcely any violence, but enough suspense to leave you chewing your fingers down to the bone. Hanssen, incidentally, is in jail for life, spending 23 hours a day in solitary |
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