The Russia House
                    
Director: Fred Schepisi
Year: 1990
Rating: 6.0
Even if I hadn't known beforehand, I would have guessed that this was in some way related to John Le Carre. It carries his rhythm and style about it. Cerebral and patient. Methodical. A chess game played by two superpowers with people caught in between. I am a big fan of Le Carre as is everyone who likes their spy films within the realm of reality and not big action bonanzas. He rarely if ever has action scenes in his books. His most famous hero was George Smiley, a middle aged dull looking man who understood how the game was played and appreciated how intricate and subtle it had to be.



Though cerebral and patient works in his novels, it doesn't necessarily translate well into films with a few exceptions - The Spy Who Came in from the Cold coming to mind. You always feel a bit smarter after reading one of his novels. The Russia House feels more plodding than patient as the plot unwinds itself like a boa after eating a large animal. I have not read the book so I don't know if Le Carre had the constant back and forth between the protagonist and spy headquarters as they manage him like an escaped hamster but it made for dull going to watch a group of white men watching a scoreboard of sorts to see his progress.



Le Carre of course wrote his first books during the Cold War in the 1960's having worked in British Intelligence, but this one takes place in the period of what was called Perestroika after the Soviet Union fell and there seemed to be a whiff of reform in the air. This turned out to be a mirage sadly as Russians as they always do turned to a strong man to lead their country. Our good comrade Putin. At one point the main character Barley (Sean Connery) tells one of his handlers "We are all friends now aren't we" to which the man from British Intel calls him an idiot for believing that.



Barley is a publisher who has a failing firm and prefers drinking and opining on the world to others. This habit impresses a Russian dissident scientist enough to try and get to him some classified information about the Russian nuclear program. He uses a friend (Michelle Pfeiffer) to do this but instead of Barley the information ends up with British Intelligence and from this the plot moves forward. They have to confirm that the Intel is not disinformation and pressure Barley to reluctantly join the Great Game. This means going back to Russia and co-mingling with Pfeiffer which is not a hardship. Excellent cast of Roy Scheider, James Fox, John Mahoney and Klaus Maria Brandauer though in truth they are not given much to do. Connery as always is a pleasure to spend time with.