CNS Movie Review: Breach

Breach

By Harry Forbes
Catholic News Service

NEW YORK (CNS) -- "Breach" (Universal) is an interesting -- though by its very nature downbeat -- dramatization of the 2001 headline-making case of FBI agent Robert Hanssen (a compelling Chris Cooper), who was revealed to be a spy for the Russians (called here the worst breach in the history of U.S. intelligence), and how he was ultimately entrapped with the help of young undercover agent Eric O'Neill (Ryan Phillippe).

At the start, we are shown O'Neill's ambition to become a full-fledged agent. When he's given the task of working for Hanssen, not knowing precisely what the latter is suspected of, little does he realize the plum he's actually been given.

At first, his relationship with the brusque and demanding Hanssen is rocky, but eventually Hanssen assumes a mentoring role that includes sharing his strong religious convictions with the younger man.

Hanssen and his wife, Bonnie (Kathleen Quinlan), take the younger couple under their wing. That marriage -- Caroline Dhavernas plays O'Neill's wife, Juliana -- is strained because of the intense secretiveness under which O'Neill must operate, particularly in his investigation of Hanssen.

The couples go to church together and pointedly say grace before a meal, the latter after the Hanssens show up uninvited one evening at the O'Neill apartment.

O'Neill is so taken with the increasingly paternal Hanssen's decency that he confronts his boss, agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney), with his strong conviction that he's wasting his time. At this point, Burroughs is compelled to reveal the hard facts: Hanssen's grave threat to national security and the fact that his treachery has actually resulted in the deaths of several American operatives. As if that were not enough, Burroughs reveals that Hanssen is a sexual deviant.

A chastened O'Neill returns to his assignment with renewed zeal.

The film never clarifies whether Hanssen was motivated by money, ego, misplaced patriotism or malice, probably because the reasons were never made clear in real life. But we learn in a postscript that Hanssen is now in prison, spending 23 hours a day in solitary confinement.

Writer-director Billy Ray's gray-toned film is deliberately paced, but ultimately delivers on suspense, including a nail-biting sequence where O'Neill must download the contents of Hanssen's Palm Pilot while his boss is reluctantly posing for an official photograph.

There is secondary interest for Catholic viewers in Hanssen's staunch commitment to Catholicism -- and to Opus Dei (mentioned only briefly in the film) -- though given the unsavory aspects of his personality, the connection is more unfortunate than not.

Still, the church scenes are reverently presented, and the religious commitment of the principals (excepting Juliana O'Neill, whose character is written with an element of skepticism), is shown to be sincere, even if Quinlan's portrayal of Bonnie Hanssen has a Stepford-wife complacency about her.

The film contains candid discussion of sexual matters, some crude language and profanity, a brief image of a pornographic video, domestic discord and mild violence. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

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Forbes is director of the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. More reviews are available online at www.usccb.org/movies.

END

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/USCCB. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed.
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