Breach (12A)

Genre:  Drama / Thriller

Cast: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Gary Cole, Bruce Davison, Caroline Dhavernas, Kathleen Quinlan, Dennis Haysbert

Review by Hemanth Kissoon

“Keep thinking those patriotic thoughts,”
- photographer to Robert Hanssen (Cooper)

The espionage thriller is an exciting sub genre that has reared its head with regularity over the last two years. We have the blockbuster behemoths (Mission: Impossible III, Casino Royale, The Bourne Ultimatum), the thought-provokers (Syriana, Munich, The Good Shepherd), the kid friendly (Stormbreaker) and their siblings on the box (24, Alias, Sleeper Cell, Spooks, The Unit). The unsettled times we live in have perhaps allowed cinema and television to provide a cathartic vent for fears, as well as escapism and some analysis.

Breach should fall into the category of the films that linger and cause us to contemplate. It feels like it should. The pedigree is there. We have the director of the gripping Shattered Glass (Ray), and a cast list of real quality. Shattered Glass is a taut tale of lies and journalism based on a true story. It is a portrayal of deception and how it was discovered. Likewise based on fact, Breach deals with lies and spies. Both films seem to enjoy the reconstruction, though Shattered Glass is more compelling, but both frustratingly lack an examination for the motivations driving the foci – self-deluding men who create a wake of destruction in their paths.

Kate Burroughs (the chameleon-like Linney) believes that fellow FBI. agent Hanssen is involved in sexually seedy behaviour and the organisation is looking to avoid embarrassment. She requests that ambitious Ed O'Neill (Phillippe) be placed in his employ to follow and gather evidence on him.

Commencing with a news reel of the American Attorney General and then cutting to Hanssen two months before in a church with a rosary, he is revealed to be a devout Catholic. O'Neill is lapsed with a Jesuit background. This commonality proves a basis for their bonding that starts off purely as means to an end for O'Neill, only to get under his skin a la Amsterdam and Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York; the pupil-mentor, surrogate son-father dynamic – a major theme. The growing respect for Hanssen makes O'Neill question charges laid down by Burroughs, who then reveals the real reason for the large group of people assigned to catch Hanssen. There is still an uncertainty in who is being genuine, the prey or the hunters, with O'Neill an apparent pawn potentially in harm's way that then extends to wife Juliana (Dhavernas, from the sadly cancelled Wonderfalls). The portrayal of the operation to acquire evidence on Hanssen is not as exciting as it should have been unfortunately (imagine in the hands of an on-form Brian De Palma), though the performances never let the film become boring.

Cooper is exceedingly charismatic and whenever he is on screen commands your attention. Also, continually avoiding the movie idol roles, and instead opting for fare off the beaten track (The Way of the Gun, Igby Goes Down, Gosford Park) Phillippe here goes left field by playing ordinary, instead of his recent reluctant hero (Flags of Our Fathers) or tragic cop (Crash). His character is not the centre of attention, and to Phillippe's credit he does not attempt to make him. He is the straight man to Cooper.

In polite company one should never talk about religion and politics. Breach tackles both. The film touches on faith – blind faith, faith in god, faith in one's country, faith in the authorities, faith in marriage and faith in fellow humanity. Breach seems to want to question the bedrock of middle-America without analysis; but it does not offer any answers – not that that is a criticism, though the lack of analysis is. Politically, the film is not as curious, with only an interest in patriotism and treason, and it does not delve into those satisfactorily.

Breach is a snap-shot of lives, like A Beautiful Mind. Both lack depth and feel made for television, but are elevated only by casting movie stars.