The plot hardly matters here; it's only a vehicle for exploring the dirty side of intelligence work and is complicated as a Swiss watch. Maybe the NSA revelations have you thinking twice about spywork? The fact that we caught spying on our own allies, the Germans, adds a special relevance to this tale. But the real appeal here is a)LeCarre's dark, dark, dark worldview and b) Hoffman's superb acting. He just tosses this role off, and is utterly convincing. After you see this you should see the film that perfectly bookends it: LeCarre's early '60s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Just as gritty and dirty and with Richard Burton as Alec Leamus. Like Gunther Bachmann,Leamus was a worn-out, beat-up, used-up operative, and audiences of the time, entranced by the frivolities of James Bond, were rather shocked by the dose of reality he represented.
