One of the things that the titular Ames of the CIA does in the film - and did in real life ... for money - is to betray his country (the USA) by alerting the KGB so that they might take action (in fact in the form of capital punishment) against Soviet spies cooperating ... with the USA. If this layer of complexity is already looking a bit tough, expect to find the movie going at least 1 or 2 higher than that - as, for example, when a Soviet defector to the USA that Ames is put in charge of (!) may well be in a position to alert the CIA to the fact that Ames as one of theirs is known to the KGB as someone who cooperates with them!
And so on and so forth in what is basically a story of routine dirty business that spawns ostensibly far dirtier business, in the sense that national borders are crossed and loyalties betrayed. But the film's early scenes are suprisingly pointed in setting up the sense of "betrayal" that Ames (played by Timothy Hutton) himself feels, as he fails to achieve promotion and sees people less able than himself rise above him. Interestingly, the makers (that's Scot John Mackenzie as Director and Michael Burton as writer) have Hutton as Ames say a lot about how unimaginative and play-it-safe CIA spooks are - and of all the comments you might have expected to come across, this was probably not one of them!
While the real-life story was obviously big news, the cheapish-looking film seems a bit dullish, even allowing for the pithy nature of some of the aforementioned insights. Nevertheless, there is no question that the thing lights up when Hutton slightly passes the baton to veteran British actress Joan Plowright, who appears as Jeanne Vertefeuille - the leader of a team of three middle-aged or even semi-elderly veteran female operatives who very subtly and painstakingly work to uncover the identity of the mole at the A. Humour sneaks in at this point (as it had very occasionally before), and Plowright shows her class without needing to try too hard.
Also surprising hits are the various not-exactly-Russian actors playing Ames's Soviet contacts. As in a film like "Bridge of Sighs", these "enemies but also realist men of the world" portrayals are surprisingly positive, with the characters showing their effusive gratitude - indeed respect - for what Ames is doing, and also epitomising that dour, pragmatic but also philosophical approach that so typifies Russians, and has some measure of admirability about it. They promise to bail Ames out and never really fail him (except when offering non-subtle advice about how to approach a polygraph test!). They are surprisingly unwilling to chastise him for his lack of faith with his own country, and all the more so for his mercenary motives originally fuelled by the aforesaid sense of injustice, together with the relatively ruthless ambition of Colombian-born second wife Rosario (coldly played by Elizabeth Pena).
Ultimately, those unaware of the story really ought to see this (but probably won't), while those with some kind of interest in this kind of thing will prefer to have this film ticked off on their list than ignored altogether; but may prove critical for either drama- or fact-related reasons, or potentially both...
And so on and so forth in what is basically a story of routine dirty business that spawns ostensibly far dirtier business, in the sense that national borders are crossed and loyalties betrayed. But the film's early scenes are suprisingly pointed in setting up the sense of "betrayal" that Ames (played by Timothy Hutton) himself feels, as he fails to achieve promotion and sees people less able than himself rise above him. Interestingly, the makers (that's Scot John Mackenzie as Director and Michael Burton as writer) have Hutton as Ames say a lot about how unimaginative and play-it-safe CIA spooks are - and of all the comments you might have expected to come across, this was probably not one of them!
While the real-life story was obviously big news, the cheapish-looking film seems a bit dullish, even allowing for the pithy nature of some of the aforementioned insights. Nevertheless, there is no question that the thing lights up when Hutton slightly passes the baton to veteran British actress Joan Plowright, who appears as Jeanne Vertefeuille - the leader of a team of three middle-aged or even semi-elderly veteran female operatives who very subtly and painstakingly work to uncover the identity of the mole at the A. Humour sneaks in at this point (as it had very occasionally before), and Plowright shows her class without needing to try too hard.
Also surprising hits are the various not-exactly-Russian actors playing Ames's Soviet contacts. As in a film like "Bridge of Sighs", these "enemies but also realist men of the world" portrayals are surprisingly positive, with the characters showing their effusive gratitude - indeed respect - for what Ames is doing, and also epitomising that dour, pragmatic but also philosophical approach that so typifies Russians, and has some measure of admirability about it. They promise to bail Ames out and never really fail him (except when offering non-subtle advice about how to approach a polygraph test!). They are surprisingly unwilling to chastise him for his lack of faith with his own country, and all the more so for his mercenary motives originally fuelled by the aforesaid sense of injustice, together with the relatively ruthless ambition of Colombian-born second wife Rosario (coldly played by Elizabeth Pena).
Ultimately, those unaware of the story really ought to see this (but probably won't), while those with some kind of interest in this kind of thing will prefer to have this film ticked off on their list than ignored altogether; but may prove critical for either drama- or fact-related reasons, or potentially both...