"He handed us fiction after fiction, and we printed them all as fact. Just because we found him entertaining."
-- Chuck Lane from Shattered Glass
Billy Ray is a master of tales of deception. With only two films, Mr. Ray managed to make the fine of art of deception inside the Beltway his canvas. And what an intriguing canvas he has painted for us both times. Billy Ray's directorial debut, Shattered Glass told the story of the great fabricator, Stephen Glass. Glass was a journalist for the New Republic magazine. During his three years as a staff writer for the magazine, 27 out of the 41 articles he wrote for the magazine ranged from semi-fabrications to complete fictions. Hayden Christensen's Glass remains one of his best performances. Sometimes, I wish his Anakin was allowed to show this much depth. Glass would only turn out to be the forerunner of Ray's obsession with the art of lying and deception. Stephen Glass has nothing on Breach's Robert Hanssen. Robert Hanssen was the Veteran FBI agent who was arrested on February 18, 2001. Hanssen had been selling secrets to the Russians for most of his career. Glass took short cuts to get to his fame quicker and paid a steep price for it. He made it all up, but it could not go on forever. No one bought his novel, The Fabulist, when it came out in the summer of 2003. A novel by a serial liar is a tough sell. What made Hanssen become a real life double agent?
Chris Cooper continues to shine in whatever role he is given. Lone Star, Adaptation, Silver City, American Beauty, Jarhead, and Syriana are just some of the films that come to mind when I think of this incredible actor. Cooper plays Robert Hanssen as a straitlaced, devout man of faith. He is the ultimate family man. He is an expert on the Soviet Union and when he not bashing the Soviet Union for its godless ways, he is busy going after the careerist bureaucracy of the FBI. How will the bureau catch this FBI mole? This mole that is said to have done the most damage to our National Security. The Bureau assigns an agent-in-training to be Hanssen's assistant-- his gofer and their internal spy. The agent-in-training is Eric O'Neill played pitch perfect by Ryan Phillippe. Phillippe continues his growth as an actor that began with The Way Of The Gun. With Breach and his previous role in Flags of Our Fathers, Phillippe is getting better and better. The young, FBI surveillance officer is the perfect counter mole to Hanssen's mole. Hanssen has just been appointed the Bureau Director of Computer Assurance Services. O'Neill is his new assistant. The film is seen through O'Neill's eyes.
The new department is just a cover. It does not exist and he a way to isolate Hanssen from everything and everyone else. The newly created department serves as a way to get neophyte, Eric O'Neill into Hanssen's inner circle-- a very small circle. O'Neill's lack of experience may serve him better than a veteran agent that Hanssen might be able to sniff out immediately. O'Neill thinks he has been assigned him because of sexual deviancy allegations against Hanssen. While he is a sexual deviant, this was just a way to hook O'Neill. Pervert hunting is not the story here, but O'Neill's role is built on deception working for the ultimate deceiver. Hanssen is the coldest boss from hell. He grills and drills everyone in his surroundings and is the epitome of anal retentiveness. Phillipe's O'Neill begins to admire and even worship his target. Cooper's Hanssen has the same kind of magnetic pull that Christensen's Glass had in Shattered Glass. O'Neill empathizes with his enemy.
O'Neill gets fed up with his assignment and demands a meeting with his supervisor, Kate Burroughs, played with cool conviction by Laura Linney. Is there any role that Laura Linney cannot play? I am reminded of her gifts every time I watch her in films like The Squid And The Whale, P.S., Love Actually, You Can Count One Me, Driving Lessons, Kinsey and many others. Burroughs eventually tells him the truth. Hanssen has been spying for the Russians for most of his career. His secrets and lies have been blown by two defectors. Hanssen does not know this. A whole department has been set up right down the hall from him. Burroughs wants O'Neill to go through everything to find some piece of evidence to catch Hanssen in the act. O'Neill has to find a way to separate the man from his palm-pilot. While the film does make it seem that O'Neill has some sort of emotional connection to Hanssen, he could live without the daily lectures on religion and the daily ribbing. His loyalty must be to Burroughs' unit. His loyalty is a sight to behold as he risks everything for the service of his country. His duty for his country has a high cost on his life. It places great strain on his marriage. It is not national security that is at stake. Inside the beltway, it is only individual careers that are at risk of any kind of damage.
I cannot say the enigma of Robert Hanssen is answered in this film. Billy Ray may not be interested in the why either. The fabrications written by Stephen Glass served as way for him to bypass the required hard work. He wanted his fame more than anything else. And all he got was short lived infamy. Robert Hanssen is a different beast in that he was not in it for the money like Adlrich Ames. Hanssen may have done business with the Russians, but he did not believe in Communism like Kim Philby. Why did he do it? Billy Ray is obsessed with deception and its practitioners. Hanssen thought he was better than everyone else. He wanted to be appreciated for his work. He wanted the office with a window. There must be better ways to go about getting that special office. We never know why he did it, but we can speculate. Breach is the first excellent film of 2007. It has been many years since I have seen such a powerful film so early in the year.
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