September 9, 2007
Breach (2007)
Breach
It stars Laura Linney, Ryan Phillipe, and Chris Cooper as Hanssen.
FBI agent Robert Hanssen spent over 20 years selling government secrets to the Russians, making him the most egregious traitor in U.S. history. He was an Opus Dei Catholic and a devout churchgoer who was also a sexual deviant, a straitlaced company man so trusted by his employers that they once appointed him to lead an investigation designed to reveal who the spy was--when in fact it was Hanssen himself. And in the end, he was brought down in part by 26-year-old Eric O'Neill, an agent-in-training who worked with him for just two months.Chris Cooper does an amazing job portraying Agent Hanssen. I have loved him in other roles such as the closeted homosexual father in American Beauty, and Adaptation for which he won a 2003 best supporting Oscar.
Even though this is a true story and we already know how it ends, the film was captivating and intriguing.
To see how good at his job Hanssen was, to know he was in charge of catching the mole, and he was the mole, is startling.
He was a spy selling secrets to the Russians for over 20 years, costing the United States countless secrets. He was a sexual deviant, taping he and his wife having rough sex, and mailing the tapes to others.
He was a devout Catholic and family man, by all accounts he was a perfect husband, father, and grandfather. He was an employee so trusted by his FBI supervisors, they kept promoting him to the top of bigger and better cases, and even the head of the very case for which he was eventually caught.
If you enjoy spy stories, and seeing how catching the biggest traitor in U.S. history, then watch this movie.
It was done exceptionally well.
