Master Spy: The Robert Hanssen Story (2002) (TV)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Lawrence Schiller

Writer (WGA):

Norman Mailer (written by)

Release Date:

10 November 2002 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Tagline:

He betrayed his family, friends, and country. Why?

Plot Keywords:

Polaroid Camera | Polaroid | Cold War | Double Agent | Female Nudity

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

William Hurt	...	Robert P. Hanssen
Mary-Louise Parker	...	Bonnie Hanssen
David Strathairn	...	Jack Hoschouer
Ron Silver	...	Mike Fine
Hilit Pace	...	Priscilla Galey
Oleg Kalugin	...	Alexander Kalugin
Lev Prygunov	...	Leonid Vladimirovich Shebarshin
Wayne Knight	...	Walter Ballou
Peter Boyle	...	Howard Hanssen
Scott Gibson	...	Richard Timber
Dmitry Chepovetsky	...	Fatelov (as Dmitri Chepovetsky)
Aaron Michael Lacey	...	Russian Guard
Lubomir Mykytiuk	...	Degtyar
Barry Flatman	...	Leroy Wauck
Nola Augustson	...	Frances Wauck

MPAA:

Rated R for sexuality, nudity and brief violence.

Runtime:

200 min | USA:123 min (DVD version)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Hawaii, USA

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Movie Connections:

Version of Breach (2007)

Fascinating and Complex but Deeply Reactionary Film

This film contains one of William Hurt's best performances and anybody who is an acting fan in general or a William Hurt fan in particular will enjoy it.

I thought that the ideology of the film was quite complex, but ultimately dishonest and reactionary. The film wants to convince us that Robert Hanson was only a strange mentally-ill man who betrayed his family, friends, religion, colleagues and country. They have little sympathy for his painful situation.

If one looks at the facts that the story presents, instead of the way the movie presents them, this is clearly not the case. Hanson has to choose between his family, friends and religion and his government and job. He chose his family, friends and religion over his job and his government. He was simply a very intelligent man in an incredibly difficult position. If he had not sold secrets to the Soviet Union and Russians, he could not have afforded the lifestyle to maintain his family, friends and religion. His alternative was to lose his job and everything he loved most in life. His choice can be seen as incredibly courageous on some level.

The producer Lawrence Schiller and the writer Norman Mailer are very rich men who do not have to worry about making money every day (as Hanson did).

The film deserves credit for at least raising some quite interesting lines of defense for Hanson. For example, the film brings up the point that it is possible that his actions of helping the Soviets and Russians actually made the world a safer place and saved the world from nuclear catastrophe. The film should have seriously considered that in betraying his country, he may have saved the human race. Instead, the film presents this as merely one more fantasy on the part of Hanson.