Filmmaker Christian Carion's Farewell is a spy thriller without rooftop chases, gunfights, or high-tech gizmos, yet it delivers more suspense than most testosterone-soaked Hollywood action flicks. Based on the little-known story of Vladimir Vetrov, a real-life KGB colonel who during the early 1980s passed important Soviet secrets—including the identities of USSR agents in the West—to the French (who in turn shared the information with the Americans), the film changes Vetrov's name to Grigoriev (played by noted director Emir Kusturica), a big bear of a man who, while believing in communism as an ideal, is disillusioned with the Brezhnev-Andropov regime. Grigoriev's French contact, Pierre (Guillaume Canet), isn't a Gallic spy, however, but a meek fellow working for a news agency who's reluctantly enlisted to accept Grigoriev's initial drop and then compelled to become his regular contact. Much of Farewell—the code name French intelligence gives to Grigoriev—is devoted to the bond the pair share, and to its wider impact on their own families (the segments dealing with the highest echelons of the French and U.S. governments—with Fred Ward in a gross caricature of President Reagan—pale in comparison). An intelligent Cold War espionage tale with humanity at its core, this is highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a photo gallery and trailers. Bottom line: a small extras package for a winning film.] (F. Swietek)
Farewell
Synergetic, 118 min., in French, Russian & English w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $24.98, Blu-ray: $34.98 Volume 26, Issue 4
Farewell
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