Breach (2007)

FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.

Director:

Billy Ray

Writers:

Adam Mazer (screenplay), William L. Rotko (screenplay) (as William Rotko)

Stars:

Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Haysbert

1 win & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Chris Cooper	...	Robert Hanssen
Ryan Phillippe	...	Eric O'Neill
Laura Linney	...	Kate Burroughs
Caroline Dhavernas	...	Juliana O'Neill
Gary Cole	...	Rich Garces
Dennis Haysbert	...	Dean Plesac
Kathleen Quinlan	...	Bonnie Hanssen
Bruce Davison	...	John O'Neill
Jonathan Watton	...	Geddes
Tom Barnett	...	Jim Olsen
Jonathan Potts	...	D.I.A. Suit
David Huband	...	Photographer
Catherine Burdon	...	Agent Nece
Scott Gibson	...	Agent Sherin
Courtenay J. Stevens	...	Agent Loper (as Courtenay Stevens)

Storyline

In February, 2001, Robert Hanssen, a senior agent with 25 years in the FBI, is arrested for spying. Jump back two months: Eric O'Neill, a computer specialist who wants to be made an agent is assigned to clerk for Hanssen and to write down everything Hanssen does. O'Neill's told it's an investigation of Hanssen's sexual habits. Within weeks, the crusty Hanssen, a devout Catholic, has warmed to O'Neill, who grows to respect Hanssen. O'Neill's wife resents Hanssen's intrusiveness; the personal and professional stakes get higher. How they catch Hanssen and why he spies become the film's story. Can O'Neill help catch red-handed "the worst spy in history" and hold onto his personal life?

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Plot Keywords:

investigation | fbi | clerk | computer | spy | 

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Taglines:

Inspired by the true story of the greatest security breach in U.S. history

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Genres:

Biography | Crime | Drama | History | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violence, sexual content and language

Details

Official Sites:

Universal Pictures [United States]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Russian Arabic Latin

Release Date:

16 February 2007 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hanssen

Filming Locations:

Arlington, Virginia, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$12,261,835, 18 February 2007, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$33,231,264

Company Credits

Production Co:

Universal Pictures, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment, Outlaw Productions (I)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie fictionalized much of Eric M. O'Neill's story. Among the changes made for the film: The real O'Neill knew going in that Robert Hanssen was the subject of a counterintelligence investigation. There was no cover story about sexual perversions, and no dramatic meeting where O'Neill learned the truth. There was no extensive contact outside the office between O'Neill and Hanssen as shown in the film (e.g. O'Neills visiting the Hanssens, Hanssens dropping by O'Neill's apartment); however, Hanssen did take O'Neill to church. The scene where Hanssen takes O'Neill out into the woods and drunkenly fires his pistol is fictional. Unlike in the movie, O'Neill never saw Hanssen after the arrest. While O'Neill did obtain Hanssen's PDA, he took it to FBI techs to download rather than downloading it himself.

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Goofs

The two Soviet KGB Agents are shown getting out of a car with a Russian flag on the front. The Russian flag was not adopted until 1991. The agents were executed under the old Soviet Union.

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Quotes

[first lines]
John Ashcroft: [news clip] Sunday, the FBI successfully concluded an investigation to end a serious breach in the security of the United States. The arrest of Robert Hanssen, for espionage, should remind us all, every American should know, that our nation, our free society, is an international target, in a dangerous world.

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Connections

Referenced in The Dirties (2013)

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Soundtracks

Near You
Written by Francis Craig, Kermit Goell
Performed by The Andrews Sisters
Courtesy of Geffen Records
Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User Reviews

Two Men in a Boat

I was surprised at how effective this was. You know from the very beginning how it will end. You know because it is a true story that there will be no trendy plot twists. You expect, and find, that the young assistant is built around a cliché, as is Hanssen's Catholicism, which oddly ignores the role of Opus Dei in this venture, and focuses on prayer instead of devotion.

And there is a formulaic bit about damaging fathers and odd wives. More: there's the project command center that is drawn from movies and not from life. And finally, our hero is told the FBI's biggest secret in an open public place. This would never ever happen, and it is staged this way only to help the pacing of the thing in terms of stagecraft. And that DIA computer room, with the nice clean Cray-like machines, is from the same fantasy world as "Red October's" neon-lighted missile tubes.

But in spite of all this, it works. And especially compared to "The Departed," it works, simply, cleanly, deeply.

That's because the filmmaker decided early in the game that he was going to do what the Hong Kong "Infernal Affairs" did well and others copied: this business of actors playing characters who are actors. In this case, we have two such in the same boat.

We have a top information manager at the FBI working for the Russians and acting normal, even when leading the hunt for himself. We have the young under cover guy pretending to be simply a clerk. Each intuits the other is watching. The older man completely wins at the start, with the younger man eventually besting him in artifice. Its a calculation that the filmmaker makes, when deciding not to tell us why our young hero does what he does and where he gets the tools. In an ordinary story, that would hurt, but here it is a wise decision because such "explaining" would get in the way of the economy of the thing. And it is all about economic connection with us.

Its a bit counterintuitive that effective stories sometimes get better by lopping off story elements and information. But it is true. Some students of the Hanssen case believe that Hanssen's primary motive was to show his own importance (as a information security planner) by revealing holes in the system that he would have plugged. I wish this film would have worked with that a bit, because this notion of helping the system by hurting is system is both what the story could have been about and the means used to tell the story.

Still, a good one.

As a historical note, there's a reason folks from the FBI and CIA, even senior ones, can't wander into NSA computing facilities. Hanssen wasn't allowed, probably a good thing at the time. Opus Dei again.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.