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entertaining u newspaper: your weekly guide to entertainment
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Seen, Heard, Noted & Quoted
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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
B Rated PG-13 110 min
This docudrama is based on the true story of the explosive discovery of a mole at the top level of the FBI’s counterintelligence unit in the late 1990s. The scenario chronicles how a young computer analyst Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) gains the mole, Robert Hanssen’s (Chris Cooper) confidence, preventing him from going to ground. This enables the investigative unit, headed by Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) to catch him in the act of making a drop of top-secret files.
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The case is the most damaging spy scandal in American history. For 22 years, Hanssen engaged in espionage, providing the Russians with a treasure trove of classified data. More significantly, he outed many Russian double agents which led to their executions.
At first, Kate Burroughs recruited Eric O’Neill to “keep an eye on Hanssen” under the pretense that he was downloading pornography which could embarrass the agency. However, Eric, being an exceptionally bright guy, figured out that there was much more to his job as Hanssen’s clerk than monitoring his porno sites. So, Kate brings him into the unit’s confidence and provides him with Hanssen’s thick file so he can know what they know. It blows Eric’s mind.
At the time the unit had enough to arrest Hansen, but they wanted to catch him in the act, so it would strengthen their case for the capital offence of espionage. In other words, they were going for life in prison without the possiblity of parole. So, they had picked Eric because of his strong Catholic background and the strong probability of him bonding with Hanssen, which is exactly what happened. Eric gradually gains Hanssen’s confidence and even admires him. On first blush, Hanssen seems like a God-country-family type of character. He’s religious, goes to church every day, and doesn’t drink or curse. But just beneath the surface, Hanssen was leading a double life. He was using his ill-gotten gains to consort with strippers and runaround on his wife.
During this later period of his spying career, Hanssen is getting paranoid. He suspects the FBI is onto him, so he’s on the verge of going to ground. At best, with what evidence the unit had already, he would get at tops five years in prison. It became Eric’s job to goad Hanssen into making one last drop.
Written and directed by Billy Ray, the script is dialogue heavy and character driven, showcasing Chris Cooper’s penetrating portrayal of Hanssen. Cooper’s characterization delves deeply into Hanssen’s conflicting psychological motivations and perplexing reasons for betraying his country and family.
Interestingly, part of Hanssen’s justification for his betrayal, other than the money, was revenge against the agency for what he perceived as their stifling bureaucracy that clogged the gears of progress. He also complained to Eric that the gun culture of the law enforcement side of the FBI got all the credit and money.
Of course, understanding why Hanssen would betray his country for so many years and not get caught, is an underlying theme of the scenario. Ray’s script implies that Hanssen got off on once heading the division to find the mole, when he was, in fact, the mole. Ray’s story also alludes to Hanssen’s monumental ego, thinking he was much smarter than the other agency hacks.
As Hanssen sinks deeper into paranoid delusions, Eric uses his confusion to prod him into action by saying he was no longer important. Eric knew this would touch a nerve and get him to resume his treacherous behavior. Viewers see Hanssen losing his grip on reality as Eric becomes the voice of his alter ego–the little devil sitting on his shoulder.
It’s important to point out that all this intrigue takes a toll on Eric as he begins to feel guilty for betraying his friend. Although he understands the morality of nailing Hanssen, he feels bad about his many lies and deceptions to give the unit the evidence they need to proceed with an ironclad case against this major traitor.
Ryan Phillippe turned in a tour de force performance as Eric O’Neill. His complete understanding of his character goes far beyond what was required. Viewers can see he is agonizingly conflicted about his job as Hanssen’s destroyer. Despite Eric’s depression about his job, Kate assures him he is doing important work which will get him a top spot in the agency. Ah yes, but he’s seen too much and feels like an unwilling hitman. As usual, Laura Linney is a stand-out as the steely Kate Burroughs, who has no life but the agency–not even a cat.
Overall, this is a riveting character driven story that intrigue devotees will love. It requires close attention to the volumes of dialogue that lays-out this incredible real life spy story. Hanssen is now locked up in Colorado’s Supermax prison in a self-contained solitary cell where he has no contact with other inmates and is confined to his cell 23 hours a day.
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