THE COMPANY 2
US, 2007, 91 minutes, Colour.
Chris O’ Donnell, Alfred Molina, Michael Keaton, Alessandra Nivola, Natasha Mac Elhone, Rory Cochrane, Ulrich Thomsen.
Directed by Mikael Salomon.
The Company is an excellent miniseries from the United States about the CIA. However, it can be seen as three separate and self-contained movies.
The first film is set in the 1950s, in Berlin in 1954, mostly in the dingy east of Berlin. It focuses on the work of two CIA agents, the veteran played by Alfred Molina and the up-and-coming Jack Mc Auliffe, the central character of the series, played by Chris O’ Donnell in one of his best roles. The film shows espionage with contacts, moles in the CIA and the consequences, and the danger of an agent falling in love. Also central to this Berlin episode is the presence of Alexandra Maria Lara as a ballet dancer, caught up in communication of data.
The film is also set in Washington DC, focusing on Mother, the experienced investigator played by Michael Keaton. Keaton was a zany comedian when he was young, moved to being Batman with some more serious roles. This is certainly one of his best, over the three episodes. He is the meticulous investigator, his walls filled with notes, his painstaking cross-referencing before computers. Also in his office is Adrian Kim Philby, played well by Tom Hollander, who is ultimately exposed and flees to Russia.
Other characters whose work spans three films include Alessandro Nivola who works in the Washington branch, Rory Cochrane as a Russian, educated in the US, and sent back as a plant, and Ulrich Thomsen is the head of the KGB.
The second film is more action-oriented, a rather graphic presentation of the Bulgarian Apra uprising in 1956, with Jack Mc Auliffe present and picked up and tortured, with Natasha Mac Elhone as a British mother, wife of leader of the uprising.
The second half of the film is rather different, moving to 1960 – 1961, the rise of Fidel Castro, the reaction of the American administration, of the Kennedys, of the CIA under Alan dallies. Once again, the three main characters are present, Jack Mc Auliffe in action at the time of the Bay of Pigs. Alfred Molina is back again, this time in cahoots with the Mafia, preparing poison for the assassination of Castro. Of significance, it is Leo Kritzky, played by Alessandro Nivola, who determines that the Bay of Pigs is the place for the invasion of Cuba. At the end of this episode, the CIA has had its authority and reputation undermined.
The third film moves on almost 15 years, problems of the 1970s, the presence of a mole in Washington, with evidence seeming to incriminate Leo Kritzky. He is picked up, interrogated, tortured. Michael Keaton’s Angleton is brought in to do the interrogation and is once more painstaking, Jack Mc Auliffe believing Leo to be guilty. However, a would-be Russian defector appears at the time which leads to a different interpretation and Leo being released. Time passes to the mid-80s and the introduction of computers – with eager young women working in offices, doing the same kind of cross-referencing previously done personally by Angleton, and this leads to the fact that Leo was, in fact, the traitor.
He escapes to Russia, visits Kim Philby. In the meantime, the Russian who has lived in Washington is uncovered and works with Jack Mc Auliffe whom he knew a quarter of a century earlier. The former significance of the CIA, the Grand Game, is over with the collapse of communism. However, indications are given of the new role of the CIA with the election of President Yeltsin.
An interesting and absorbing serious films, very well acted, with the periods re-created effectively, and find work of directing by Mikael Solomon, whose career with film and television has led to work with a variety of genres.
1. The second episode in the series, moving on from 1954? The two focal points: 1956 and the Hungarian uprising, 1960 – 1961, Fidel Castro, the Bay of Pigs?
2. The role of the CIA, the leadership, Alan Dulles, Jim Angleton, Harvey Toritti, Jack McAuliffe?, Leo Kritzky, the blend of fact and fiction?
3. The Hungary sequences, Budapest, the look of the city, the buildings, torture chambers, public halls? The battle sequences, their length, the detail? The role of the uprising? The Russian military? Local military?
4. The effect of the Hungarian uprising, America giving moral support but not entering into military action? The discussions, the motivations, divided Europe into East and West? The crushing of the uprising? The deaths of the leaders? The flamethrowers and their being shot, the tanks going over them?
5. The personal story, Jack, his being in Hungary, his contact with Natasha, the discussions, her explanations, her marriage, British background, the capture of her daughter, able to see her only once each year, the support of the poet, his recitations, the people support? His leadership in the uprising, is not wanting to compromise, unable to compromise and negotiate, his death?
6. The interrogators, the torturers, their being taken, Elizabet confronting the woman and shooting her? Jack and his observing, getting Elizabet out, reuniting her with her daughter?
7. The transition to 1960, a different atmosphere, Castro and the Cuban Revolution, American political attitudes, the Kennedys? The CIA and its hostility? Guatemala, the leadership, the training? Jack and his involvement?
8. Kritzky, moving from background secretary to an adviser, his family connections, friendship with Jack – and the flashbacks to their past and the rowing? His family life? His advice, a place for a landing and an invasion, the choice of the Bay of Pigs?
9. Harvey, his involvement, retiring, yet still active, the Mafia connections, the plan to kill Castro, the CIA laboratories and the poison? The waiter, attempting to kill Castro? His being taken, interrogated, forced to drink the preparation, his death?
10. The military background, Jack and his involvement and presence, the strategy for the Bay of Pigs? The role of the Cuban rebels? The Cuban military, Navy? The engagement, the fiasco, the deaths? The effect on Allen Dulles and the CIA chiefs? The Kennedys?
11. The effect on Jack, his wanting to resign, has been presented with the medal, Harvey’s drunken applause?
12. The film’s critique of the role of the CIA and its lacking support for the Hungarian uprising? Its bungled efforts to confront Castro?
