In 2001, FBI operative Robert Hanssen was found guilty of treason against the United States of America. During a 22-year period he passed on top-secret material to the Russians and revealed the identity of KBG agents working for the United States; two of them were subsequently executed. In this riveting fact-based drama, we see the FBI's complex operation to bring him down.
Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe), in training to be an FBI agent, is doing menial surveillance tasks when Special Agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) pegs him to be Hanssen's (Chris Cooper) assistant in a new division charged with evaluating the security procedures around classified FBI intelligence. Eric is told that his new boss is a sexual pervert whose online activities might prove to be embarrassing for the agency. He is to gather all the information on Hanssen's daily activities and submit logs on his movements to Burroughs. It is only later that he learns the real reasons behind the investigation.
Billy Ray directs this riveting drama that deals with the ethical meaning of trust in a world of espionage where lies and cons are the name of the game. His last film was Shattered Glass, a 2003 drama about how journalist Stephen Glass deceived The New Republic magazine. In an interesting twist to the story, Hanssen is revealed to be a serious Catholic who attends mass every day and prays profusely. His ability to trample on truth-telling and betray others for money is in one compartment of his life and totally separate from his Christianity. He reminds us of the Nazis during World War II who could not see how their murderous actions were in contradiction to everything in their faith. Hanssen is cool toward his new assistant but luckily for the FBI, he warms to O'Neill when he discovers that he went to Catholic schools. Soon he invites him and his East German-born wife (Caroline Dhavernas) to church and a Latin mass. Bonnie Hanssen (Kathleen Quinlan) is even more religious than her husband.
This espionage tale really works thanks to a standout performance by Chris Cooper as Hanssen. He does a remarkable job conveying this master spy's many sides — suspiciousness, righteous indignation against those who don't do their jobs well, a hyperactive libido, a bad temper, impatience, a streak of judgmentalism, and a meticulous attention to detail. Ryan Phillippe also does a good job with Eric, turning the rookie agent into a complex character who is not sure he likes the person he's becoming as he gets drawn deeper and deeper into the case. Like the recent film, The Good Shepherd, which focused on the early days of the CIA, this drama points out the impact upon personal relationships of security work that requires agents to keep secrets and to be suspicious of everyone.
