Breach is spy-thriller based on real life events showing how a turncoat spy of FBI who had been selling secrets pertaining national security to the Russians for two decades since the time of the Cold War was brought down largely through the efforts of a greenhorn agent recruited specifically for that purpose. The movie may be solely credited to Chris Cooper for his layered and restrained portrayal of Hanssen, who brought about the greatest security breach in US history, as an overtly religious, god-fearing, homophobic, strongly conservative extremely intelligent man of strict principles with a fetish for Catherine Zeta-Jones albeit a compulsive pervert and a traitor. Ryan Phillips, too, has done a decent job as an FBI trainee torn apart between his demanding job, his loving but lonely wife, the apparently ridiculous diktats of his recruiters and the complex relationship he develops with Hanssen. The treatment is fine as the end product is gripping and tense. But the greatest drawback of the film is that at the end credits it leaves us wanting for more, as the director concentrated solely on the ‘how’ without caring for the more important question, viz. ‘why’ – we are oblivious of what made an otherwise respectable and seemingly conscientious guy end up doing what he did. The inner demons of the complex character could have been attended to rather than just on how he was finally nabbed.
Director: Billy Ray
Genre: Docufiction/Psychological Thriller/Spy Thriller
Language: English
Country: US
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