Breach (2007 film)

Breach
Directed by	Billy Ray
Written by	Adam Mazer William Rotko
Produced by	Scott Kroop Adam Merims Scott Strauss
Starring	Chris Cooper Ryan Phillippe Laura Linney
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	2007

Breach is a 2007 film starring Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, and Laura Linney. The film is directed by Billy Ray and is based on the story of Eric O'Neill, an upstart FBI operative working under Robert Hanssen, an agent convicted of spying for the Soviet Union (and, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia) for 15 years. The film debuted on February 16, 2007.

Cast

Actor	Role
Chris Cooper	Robert Hanssen
Ryan Phillippe	Eric O'Neill
Laura Linney	Kate Burroughs
Caroline Dhavernas	Juliana O'Neill
Gary Cole	Rich Garces
Dennis Haysbert	Dan Plesac
Kathleen Quinlan	Bonnie Hanssen
Tom Barnett	Jim Olsen
Bruce Davison	John O'Neill

Critical Reception

Reviews of the film have been very positive, with much praise going to Chris Cooper's performance. On the February 17th edition of Ebert and Roeper, Richard Roeper gave the film a thumbs up calling it the best movie of the year so far. He also declared Cooper's performance to be the best of his career, and expects him to get an Oscar nomination.

Premise

Eric O’Neill (Ryan Phillippe) has just landed a job which could provide him with the opportunity to achieve his dream job as a full-fledged FBI agent and has been handpicked to work under renowned operative Robert Hanssen (Chris Cooper) within a new division created to protect all classified FBI intelligence. In actuality, he is working under Special Agent Kate Burroughs (Laura Linney) and Special Agent Dan Plesac (Dennis Haysbert), who have been investigating Hanssen as a potential mole for the Soviet Union. Their case is of grave importance given the type of information to which he has access. O’Neill must gain his new mentor’s trust in hopes that the traitor will eventually expose himself. Soon, O’Neill is risking his life as well as the life of his family as he and Hanssen become tangled in a dangerous game that pits them against one another.

Plot

Template:Spoiler The film begins three months before Hanssen's arrest. Hanssen is brought to FBI headquarters to head up a new division specializing in Information Assurance. They also bring in Eric O'Neill to be his clerk. What neither of them know is that the FBI is tracking Hanssen's every move. They know he has been spying for Russia since around 1985. Later they reveal exactly what O'Neill's mission is, to stay on top of him as much as possible.

As Eric is dragged deeper and deeper into Hanssen's personal and professional life, he can hardly do the job he's been assigned. Hanssen starts to become a mentor. He was a highly intellectual individual that had strong Catholic beliefs and a wife and family to which he adored.

The FBI work furiously to stop Hanssen, which starts to tear up Eric's picture-perfect marriage. Hanssen eventually becomes very suspicious that he's being tracked and tailed. He had one more exchange set up with the Russians, but decided to drop it for fear of being caught.

He confronted Eric demanding to know if he could trust him. Eric managed to stand up for himself, and told Hanssen that he didn't matter enough to be tailed. Hanssen rebutted this by saying he mattered plenty, and decided to go through with the drop. When he did, the FBI tailed him and arrested him on the scene in early 2001. Despite finally earning his much desired Agent status, Eric decided to quit and live a somewhat less stressful life. Template:Spoiler-end

Trivia

• A portrait of the real Robert Hansen hangs in Hansen's office

External links

• Official Site
• Breach at IMDb
• Breach at Yahoo! Movies
• Interview with the film's director -- from NPR.org
• February 2007 Washington Post article revisiting the Hanssen case