His interest in religion is a means to an end-to earn Hanssen’s trust so as to glean information that might be used to bring down Hanssen. ![]() With O’Neill, the motivation is more transparent. “I know what I’ve done.” (Hanssen and his wife subscribed to Opus Dei, but the film does not highlight any contrasts between Opus Dei and mainstream Catholicism.) Does he seek God because he desires to have his conscience cleansed? Is he merely using religion as a cover-something to keep others from sensing his criminal behavior? Does he strive to match the ideals of his spoken faith, even as he continually falls far short of those ideals in practice? In sum, is his faith genuine? “It doesn’t matter to me … the judgments of other men,” he says at one point. And he resents the higher pay and respect bestowed upon other intelligence officials whom he considers his intellectual inferiors.īut Hanssen’s conscience is unsettled, if not outright troubled, and how his sense of guilt feeds into his religious affinity is one of the film’s unspoken but most intriguing questions. He also despises the ineffectiveness of the agents who worked with him to root out the FBI mole, not realizing for years that Hanssen himself was the betrayer. intelligence agencies-an eerie foreshadowing of what would underlie the events of September 11, 2001, a date that falls just months after Hanssen’s arrest. ![]() He’s frustrated by the lack of cooperation between different U.S. Hanssen’s motivation for betraying America is never quite clear, which is part of what makes his story so interesting. Instead, he’s the target of a years-long investigation to root out a mole within the FBI-someone who has provided America’s enemies with top-secret data and who has been responsible for exposing the identities of undercover U.S. ![]() Hanssen isn’t protecting the documents at all. O’Neill soon finds out there’s much more to the assignment. Trouble is, he’s a sexual deviant who needs to be watched closely. Ryan Phillippe stars as Eric O’Neill, plucked from a low-profile security position to assist FBI agent Hanssen in his role as head of “information assurance,” where Hanssen guards classified documents. ![]() government for decades was brought down by the very people he held in contempt, and how a young bureau employee who shared Hanssen’s Catholic faith led to the man’s undoing. The true story of the fall of FBI spy Robert Hanssen (beautifully portrayed by Chris Cooper) shows how a man who tricked the U.S. In director Billy Ray’s ( Shattered Glass) Breach, faith and sexual deviancy are two ingredients that, along with simmering resentment, create a volatile cocktail. “Do you pray the rosary every day?” asks FBI Agent Robert Hanssen of his new assistant, Eric O’Neill. Rating: PG-13 (for violence, sexual content and language)Īctors: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Gary Cole, Dennis Haysbert, Kathleen Quinlan, Bruce Davison Theatrical Release Date: February 16, 2007
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