An espionage thriller which focuses on strong character development, performances and setting, Breach could have been a contender had it not been for the ill informed depictions of the characters Catholic faith.

Breach  tells is the true story of Robert Hanson (Chris Cooper), an FBI Agent turned traitor who committed the worst breach in U.S. history. Ryan Phillipe co-stars as Eric O’Neil, an FBI operative who agrees to spy on Hanson in order to secure a promotion.  

Through their Catholicism, Hanson and O’Neil forge a strong bond, which slowly breaks when O’Neil finds out that Hanson has in fact been a traitor for years, selling secrets to the Russian’s which has cost the U.S. Government billions of dollars and numerous lives.

Set before 9/11 (just as President Bush came into power), the film also takes a look at the failure of U.S. intelligences to share information between one another, which will cost them in the not to distant future.

Tak Fujimoto’s crisp cinematography –which magnificently captures the films winter chill setting – helps set the mood as a taught spy thriller which relies on story and not action set pieces.                 

Cooper plays Hanson very well, portraying him as an equally sympathetic yet slimy character that has the weight of his conscious hovering over him. An intelligent, slightly paranoid and cunning man, Hanson’s hard demeanour is offset by his strong faith in the Opus Dei Catholic religion and the love of his family. But underneath his temperamental and banal exterior lies a deceitful and perverted soul full of secrets and remorse.

Yet a big problem with Breach lies within how Billy Ray implemented and exploited Hanson’s religious beliefs. It makes many ill informed assumptions about Catholicism, with scenes portraying Robert Hanson and his wife constantly push their faith upon Eric and his wife completely fictional.

Yet, these scenes were created and placed in the film. And for what reason? To vilify the Catholic faith? To present the Hanson's as your typical nosy, overbearing, morally sound Catholic family out to save the souls of the fallen? Why such a strong focus on the man's religion? What did it have to do with his crimes of treason? And why did such liberties with the Hanson's Catholic faith go unnoticed by the critics?  

Granted his religion was a big part of his life, but it did not have a thing to do with his actions as a traitor. Sure it makes great character fodder, the devout Catholic who sold secrets to the "godless" Soviets. Yet in the context with which it was presented it comes off as a tad suspect, and at times insulting.

Not all Catholics are bible bashing moralists. And considering that none of the before mentioned religious conversations and attempted conversions happened in real life, it proves the point that in order to vilify the man, the filmmakers decided to vilify the religion as well.

Being a traitor should be enough villainous fodder to play with. But it seems that it wasn't enough for Billy Ray and co., who pushed the Catholic angle a little too much.