A Most Wanted Man
10 April 2023
Director: Anton Corbijn
See
Her: A Most Wanted Man by Anton Corbijn, 2014. The Story of a Chechan refugee Issa Karpov, who arrives in Hamburg seeking asylum but inadvertently becomes a part of a much larger operation undertaken by a German intelligence group seeking to find their leads to a Muslim philanthropist Dr Abdullah, suspected of sponsoring Al-Qaeda. The last film made and released before Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death.
Him: Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Günther, a German spy in Hamburg, hard drinking, smoking and obsessively committed to his craft. Together with Irna (Nina Hoss), Maximillian (Daniel Brühl) and Niki (Viki Krieps) rounding off the actual German cast, they’re surveilling Chechan refugee abd potential terrorist Issa( Grigory Dobrygin) seeking asylum or a possible terror cell with the help of a do-gooder lawyer Annabel (Rachel McAdams) and nefarious dubious banker Tommy (Willem Dafoe). Robin Wright plays Marthal, an American spy Günther doesn’t trust, haven’t been burnt before in Iraq.
Think
Her: During the meeting with high rank American and German officials who got their interest in this operation, Gunther is comparing their operation to the feeding ecosystem of the ocean where small fish are eaten by barracuda which then gets eaten by a shark. The German high ranking official Mohr (who looks like a typical Russian apparatchik) only comments that he’s not familiar with fishing, while American agent Sullivan (Robin Wright) asks about the purpose of the operation but doesn’t comment at all. Only at the very end do we realise that Günther is the same small fish for them, just like Issa is.
Him: I loved Anton Corbijn’s previous films, The American and Control. The terrorist genre was big in the early 2000s, and thankfully the threat of attacks is a bad memory, but seeing spycraft done differently to Americans saving the day is interesting. Germans in particular being more methodical and deliberate in their operations. Philip Seymour Hoffman is especially captivating post Capote Oscar seeing what he could do on screen.
Feel
Her: Special agent/intelligence operations films are usually not my thing, however this one felt more devastating and real than any other ones I’ve seen. The higher ranks are, the less empathy there is. I remember reading about Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death not long after watching this movie for the first time in the cinema and not being able to separate his personality from his character of a somewhat respected leader of the group, who has, however, been played and used by ‘bigger fish’ multiple times. The open ending doesn’t suggest any positive developments for his career. But I’d like to think that he finally retires and finds his peace in fishing or whatever else it may be.
Him: The ending left me cold. Good intentions cease to be enough to get the job done, being less than completely ruthless as a spy or a terrorist is punished, and in so doing markes you not believe in the system. Issa was gentle and Günther principled. Both paid for it.
