Unpatriotic spy business

THE WHISTLE BLOWER (1986)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

In the first half-hour of the often riveting and disquieting "The Whistle Blower," we witness what looks like a  funeral procession for someone though we are not sure who - Queen Elizabeth II is seen at the procession. It turns out it is Remembrance Day in Whitehall, London as war veterans march past the Cenotaph, a monument to fallen soldiers which is sort of like the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in D.C. Then we see a domestic drama of sorts with Michael Caine as Frank, former naval officer who once worked for intelligence talking to his son, Bob (Nigel Havers, who really looks he could be Caine's son) who works as a linguist for the same intelligence headquarters (GCHQ) and is revealing top-secret information to his dad. We know something is afoot when vans are seen following them, recording their conversations including when they are in Bob's apartment. Disquieting indeed.

I will not reveal much except to say that Bob is killed - there is an apparent accident where he fell from the roof of the apartment. Frank knows something is up, and he starts making inquiries including his son's colleagues. It all eventually to a truly nail-biting sequence where Caine is in front of what could be a British echelon of leaders who control the spies and the information leaks, not to mention talk of Soviet moles and how people are expendable. The film does more than imply that the British spy circuit have a fondness for Soviet Russia, more so than the capitalist might of the United States or Great Britain. Some of these utterances by reliable pros like James Fox and  Sir John Gielgud give the film a greater credibility - they ooze the power of maintaining their secrecy over treasonable actions.

As I said, I can't divulge much more though many will see the parallels to spy novelists like John Le Carre. "The Whistle Blower" is not refreshing in its storytelling or plot, more so with its laid-back tone, restrained performances and its muted moments of violence with gravitas added by the cast and director Simon Langton. It is ultimately Michael Caine who envelops the film with his heartbreak over his son's death and Great Britain's patriotic death as well - it is not the country he thought it was since his early days of fighting the Korean War and working for GCHQ. I would not call "The Whistle Blower" a great movie -some will have issues with the slightly uneven pacing and the ending, which works beautifully I thought - but it is an exceptional chapter in the cinematic spy business and how deeply rotten to the core it can be.