Film
La Spia – A Most Wanted Man
Regia: Anton Corbijn
Con: Rachel McAdams , Willem Dafoe , Philip Seymour Hoffman , Robin Wright , Daniel Brühl , Grigory Dobrygin , Nina Hoss , Mehdi Dehbi , Homayoun Ershadi , Derya Alalabora , Franz Hartwig
A story that takes place between Hamburg and Berlin and involves a mysterious fugitive, an English banker, a young lawyer and the head of a secret German espionage unit. Melik Oktay is a talented boxer, he is Muslim and lives with his mother, a Turkish immigrant, in Hamburg. A faith and an origin, those of him and his mother, which weigh like a boulder after September 11th. One evening Melik comes across a stranger wearing a black coat who says his name is Yssa and that he is a Chechen refugee looking for help. Melik and his mother decide to help him, not knowing that their gesture will trigger a chain of events that will end up involving the intelligence of three countries. Because Yssa is actually a wanted terrorist. It is the last film completed by Philip Seymour Hoffman before his untimely death, who gave his last great performance in the role of anti-terrorist agent Günther Bachmann. Political action thriller that tells a dramatic and intense story is the third attempt at directing a feature film for Anton Corbijn, after “Control” and “The American”, which he brings to the big screen, after “La Talap” (the film was directed in 2009 by Tomas Alfredson) another novel by the British John Le Carré “Yssa the good”. The screenplay is written by Andrew Bovell, whose credits include the screenplay for “Out of Control”. A cast of big names that includes in addition to the “giant ” Hoffman, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl (“The Fifth Estate,” “Rush”), Nina Hoss (“Gold.” “Barbara’s Choice”) and Rachel McAdams, recently seen in “A Question of Time” Regarding Hoffman, the director states in the notes accompanying the film “’I wouldn’t know where to start when I think about what he left us as a legacy, which is immense in both scope and depth his choices. He was the best character actor I can imagine, and if you even think about his minor roles, those performances alone set him apart from his contemporaries. His strength consisted in total immersion in the role and in a complete absence of vanity. At the same time, he hated what he loved, which was his curse – he tore himself to pieces for his performances.”
Talking of James Bond, if you have never compared Ian Fleming’s fictional James Bond to a real spy check out a news article dated 13 September 2024 in TheBurlingtonFiles website. Sadly for Fleming’s Bond, reality like exploding pagers and walkie-talkies is leaving espionage fiction in the ashtray of history. Why not forget about fictional agents like Bond and Bourne dashing to save the world from disaster and forget about CIA and MI6 officers reclining on their couches dreaming up espionage scenarios to try and thrill you. Check out what a real MI6 and CIA secret agent does nowadays. Why not browse through TheBurlingtonFiles website and read about Bill Fairclough’s escapades when he was an active MI6 and CIA agent? The website is rather like an espionage museum without an admission fee … and no adverts. You will soon be immersed in a whole new world which you won’t want to exit.