Spy Game

My favourite spy movie is Spy Game, a movie starring Brad Pitt and Robert Redford.

It is about the relationship between a field agent and his CIA handler which grows throughout the second half of the Cold War: between the Vietnam conflict and the fall of the Berlin Wall. The movie is structured around the progress of the relationship, from when they first meet in Cambodia where the handler uses the then marine sniper to assassinate a Laotian general.

This progresses to the handler later recruiting the veteran to the CIA, where he teaches his the tradecraft of the intelligence world, including spying, espionage and firearm training.

This development of the relationship is set amid a current crisis whereby the agent has gone rogue and attempted to rescue his girlfriend from a Chinese imprison where she has been incarcerated for being involved in a terrorist act which led to the death of a number of Chinese citizens.

In trying to break out his girlfriend, the agent uses concealed spy equipment including a syringe which allows him to firstly ‘kill’ himself, only to then be revived in waking up from the temporary death.

The movie ends with the handler using his life savings to get the agent out of the Chinese prison after his rescue attempt fails.

Spy Game is an excellent spy movie, illuminating the reality of the world of espionage, especially that of the Central Intelligence Agency.

-Tal Rasha