Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent  (1986)

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Oleg Rudnik, Josef Sommer

Director: Mick Jackson

Rating: PG

Distributor: Artisan Home Entertainment

Release Date: January 20, 2004
Review posted: February 18, 2004

Spoilers: None

Reviewed by Gregory L. Amato

"Everybody covers his ass Steve, including Mr. Hoover. It’s not just a commie trick."

SYNOPSIS

Based on real events during the Cold War, Steve Daley (Tommy Lee Jones) is a CIA officer stationed in Geneva who is approached by Yuri Nosenko (Oleg Rudnik), a high-level KGB agent willing to sell information. After President Kennedy is killed, Nosenko asks for asylum and offers information on the assassination and more, including the names of potential agents to recruit. But the more time Daley spends with Nosenko, the more suspicious he becomes of the legitimacy of his claims. Is Nosenko really a defector, or a false agent sent to mislead US intelligence?

CRITIQUE

It’s too bad that the film is being marketed as a “Roller coaster ride of political intrigue.” The film is somber in nearly every sense of the word, and one thing it is definitely not is exciting. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, especially considering the subject matter. Just understand that you are getting a re-creation of a historical espionage case, not a spy thriller like any of the 007 movies. As a presentation of actual events, the film is disturbing in its portrayal not of Soviet spies but of American counterintelligence.

Anyone with a historical interest in espionage or the Cold War period will likely find Nosenko more useful than average moviegoers. It’s just too confusing to be understood on a first viewing for anyone not familiar with the historical events. Part of the problem is the overall pace—the film is only an hour and a half long, but it contains so many important characters and crucial dialogue that it’s difficult to keep up. Another problem is that the quality of the audio just isn’t very good. With no subtitles, you will end up having to replay some scenes several times in order to make sense out of something that is barely audible, unintelligible, or both.

For anyone patient enough to deal with the DVD, Nosenko does tell an interesting and coherent (if complicated) true story. Problems that usually plague historical dramas are thankfully absent; the story is not oversimplified, and the history is not sugarcoated with an eye towards making the US look good. The film is almost as much a documentary as it is a dramatic recreation of actual events. Sometimes this works out for the better and tells a compelling story or makes the characters more human than they would be in a History channel special. Unfortunately it sometimes tries to cram so much information into the plot that missing a single sentence can be a real problem.

THE VIDEO

Artisan presents Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent in the original 1.33:1 fullscreen (it was originally made for television). Colors are not particularly bright, but seem acceptable, especially for establishing the feel of the Cold War era. Sharpness is okay but not great, definitely showing its age. Most of the footage is fairly grainy, but there is nothing that would make the video component itself particularly unwatchable.

THE AUDIO

Artisan presents Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent in English 2.0 Digital Stereo Sound. Missing out on 5.1 Surround Sound is probably irrelevant because the film is all dialogue. The main problem in some sequences is that the audio often lacks clarity, making it difficult to understand what characters are saying in a few scenes.

THE EXTRAS

A press release for Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent claims that the DVD “Boasts an arsenal of special features.” I took that to mean that it should have a lot of special features. Perhaps I read the wrong definitions of “Boasts” and “arsenal,” because there are no special features on the DVD at all. Nada. Zip. You get two choices on the main menu: Play Movie and Scene Selection. There aren’t even any subtitles, which would have helped immensely in certain scenes. Saying that 2.0 digital audio and “Full Screen Version” are part of an arsenal of special features makes me wonder why Artisan didn’t also include “Hole in the middle of the disk” on their list of “Special Features.”

Considering the complexity of the film, the historical nature of the material, and the contemporary implications of the events portrayed, one might think this would be a prime candidate for some interesting features, but unfortunately there are none. This is especially frustrating because the film was originally made in 1986, before the collapse of the Soviet Union, yet there is nothing to tell us about what information may have been unearthed afterwards to shed light on some of the film’s loose ends.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Yuri Nosenko: Double Agent appears to take great pains not to dumb down its subject matter and present its characters and events as accurately as possible, so it may make great viewing for history buffs and students. Unfortunately it is a difficult movie to watch without already having some understanding of the events it portrays, and may require multiple viewings just to understand what exactly was going on. If you want James Bond, this is not for you, but if you’re interested real espionage cases, Nosenko may be exactly what you’re looking for.

VERDICT: ONLY FOR THE MOTIVATED

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