Breach

Synopsis: In a story inspired by true events, a young FBI trainee is assigned to work with the biggest traitor in American history.

Breach returns to an older, quieter style of thriller; where psychology is more frightening than violence. The film follows events in the final two months before the arrest in early 2001 of Robert Hanssen, an FBI intelligence expert and apparently devout Opus Dei member. Over 15 years, Hanssen constructed elaborate methods to anonymously pass countless secrets to the Russians, leading to rich rewards for himself and several deaths of double agents he betrayed. He also had a relationship with a stripper, sent secret sex videotapes of his wife to a friend and posted anonymous stories on the internet featuring fantasy versions of himself and his wife.

These events have already featured in the Master Spy telemovie, written by Norman Mailer and starring William Hurt. At 4 hours long, it took a detailed look at the Catholic and paternal influences in Hanssen's life that led to his neurotic desire to out-earn a domineering father. Breach covers similar ground in a shorter space of time, with the ever-impressive Chris Cooper featuring as a lead in a studio film for the first time. Cooper nails the character of Hanssen. His performance begins in an unpleasant inscrutability which slowly erodes under the internal tensions of patriotism and betrayal, faith and deviance, trust and suspicion.

The film is essentially told from the perspective of young FBI trainee Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe) who was instrumental in Hanssen's downfall. Mr O'Neill's website modestly describes him as "the real-life hero behind the movie Breach." In real-life, it seems O'Neill worked to gain Hanssen's trust and draw him out of deep cover, participating in a final ploy to get his PDA to the cryptographers for long enough to decode the necessary evidence. The cinematic version of these events at times feels too unquestioning of the role and virtue of the USA intelligence agencies but it makes for tense viewing.

Phillippe brings a young, trustworthy presence to the role that portrays O'Neill as an even bigger hero than may have been the case. Here, he personally decrypts Hanssen's material, gets shot at and manages to convincingly mislead the man who was never misled. Along the way, he struggles to keep his relationship with his wife (Caroline Dhavernas) together and give his FBI handler (an icy Laura Linney) the smoking gun needed to bring Hanssen down. Phillippe gives an earnest credibility to the devout O'Neill who at first finds a lot to sympathise with in his new employer and then a lot to fear.

The film makes it easy to believe that Hanssen trusted O'Neill as an uncorrupted version of himself and his obvious desire to mould the younger man and his wife is quite disturbing. Director Billy Ray builds on similar themes from his surprisingly powerful film, Shattered Glass. With Breach, the scrutiny of a man and his hidden failings builds an even greater level of tension as the stakes are high and the consequences brutal. It's chilling and it's well worth a look.

 

 

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