A key member of the FBI's elite Soviet Analytical Unit, Robert Hanssen would, for 15 years beginning in 1985, sell thousands of pages of classified documents to the Soviets. After making roughly 600,000 dollars on his clandestine endeavor and compromising everything from the identities of KGB spies working for the American government to nuclear war contingency plans, Hanssen was eventually transferred to a newly created position at the FBI's Washington headquarters and assigned the task of guarding his country's most sensitive secrets. It was while working in this capacity that a young agent named Eric O'Neill was assigned the task of keeping tabs on Hanssen by suspicious higher-ups. Later, after being arrested while delivering a cache of secret documents to a "dead drop" spot in a Virginia park, the notorious traitor was arrested and sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole.
The true story of Robert Hanssen is as fascinating as it is disturbing. The challenge for the makers of this film was to figure out what to focus on and what to leave out. They ended up doing a great balancing act by showing just enough of Hanssen's history to give a sense of why he might have committed these crimes as well as a good deal of focus on his current situation (family, religion, work) to show how he covered his tracks and was able to avoid detection for 15 years. Chris Cooper did a great job portraying Hanssen and Ryan Phillippe did a pretty good job in the role of Eric O'Neill. If this story was fiction, it would have been a gripping film, but the fact it's based on real life makes it a must see movie. The special features even include the original Dateline NBC report shortly after Hanssen was busted - bonus.
Rating: 3 of 5 stars
Would I watch it again: No
Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe
The opinions expressed are those of me, myself and I.
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