The Robert Hanssen Case – two films

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Truth is always stranger than fiction. It is a cliché but like all good cliches it is also true. Otherwise, how do you explain that an FBI counter espionage agent, dedicated to catching Russian spies and Americans spying for Russians, was a Russian spy? For 22 years? 

The Hanssen case defies any stretch of imagination or spy fiction. Here was Robert Hanssen, an ideal candidate for the FBI with a truck load of degrees and experience, and a devout member of the Opus Dei Church. Who can really believe that he would be a Russian spy for 22 Years? Blowing all FBI anti Soviet / Russian operations while blowing every American asset inside / behind the Iron Curtain? The apparent motive was the oldest of them – Money.

There was a time when the FBI and the CIA formed a joint team to analyse why their assets behind the Iron Curtain were being rounded up systematically. The man they put in charge of this team ? Robert Hanssen. Once again unbelievable but true.

The Hanssen case proves once again that if you have a man inside your opposition, no amount of monetary benefit can equal the “access” your man has. The Russians knew this and when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, they waited a suitable period and then reapproached him to continue his work. Which he did until his eventual exposure and capture in February 2001.

Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002) – Dull

Genre – Real world Spying

Time: 2 Hours, 32 minutes

Platform: You Tube – free

 The Hanssen case broke in February 2001 and soon the September 11 events followed thus pushing it into the background. So, the TV film makers already had an uphill struggle to make the film interesting for the audience as every event those days had everything to do with Osama bin Laden and Afghanistan and very little to do with the Soviet Union or The Cold war or the Russians. This somehow seems to have percolated into the writing and the film feels quite laboured. 

The emphasis seems to be on his abusive background, sexual indulgences including trying to convert a stripper into his faith. Even though she offers sex, he refuses it on ethical grounds. Yet the same Hanssen had no compunctions about filming his sex activities with his own wife and transmitting it to a friend in an adjacent room. All the time, spying for the Soviets and then the Russians.  

Unfortunately, the story telling doesn’t quite live up to it. William Hurt, usually a superb actor, is hopelessly dull here and the proceedings don’t make an interesting watch. 

Do note that the film is free on YouTube but there are two versions:

1. A badly edited version  Which seems incomplete
2. A “full version” but with an ongoing commentary ☹

Real History/ Historical Background – 4 out of 5 

Script – 3 out of 5

Story – 3 out of 5

Direction – 3 out of 5

Photography – 3 out of 5

 Total – 3.2 out of 5

Breach (2007) – Superb view of counter-espionage

Genre – Real world Spying

Time: 1 Hour, 50 minutes

Platform: Amazon Prime (US)

Hanssen (Chris Cooper) is in the Washinton office and is given a new assistant Eric O’Neill (Ryan Philippe), Hanssen is already upset that he has been given a supposedly important post but actually doesn’t mean anything. He vents his frustration on O’Neill, who is actually “placed” as Hanssen’s assistant, to find proof of Hanssen’s suspicious activity. His handler Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) is disturbed by O’Neill’s growing admiration for Hanssen and asks him to focus on the job. O’Neil takes more and more risks to uncover Hanssen’s double life and finally stumbles on the various smoking guns that lead the team to formulate a plan and arrest Hanssen. 

The film makes it clear initially that this is “based on a true story” and some events have been “dramatized for the screen”. Which is a pity given that the actual story of the hunt in itself is very absorbing and yet thought provoking. The film also focuses on the immediate months leading to his arrest and not the years before them.

Here’s a dedicated, fixated Russian spy being tracked by an equally dedicated and fixated assistant who unfortunately succumbs to Hanssen’s charisma and almost gives himself away but is brought back on the true path time and again by Burroughs. This dramatic tension is probably what the “screen dramatization” was all about – otherwise O’Neill knew perfectly well what his real mission was. 

Breach is unfortunately removed from Amazon India and is now only on Amazon Prime US. Chris Cooper can never give a bad performance and he is menacing, oily, kind, and plain dominating as Hanssen. Against his gravitas, almost all other performances fade away. 

Overall, this is a superb tale of how an actual counter espionage operation, a mole-hunt, is performed. 

Real History/ Historical Background – 4 out of 5 

Script – 4 out of 5

Story – 4 out of 5

Direction – 4 out of 5

Photography – 4 out of 5

 Total – 4 out of 5