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Maoist movie reviews
"The Falcon and the Snowman" (1985)
The Falcon and the Snowman
Directed by John Schlesinger
Hemdale Film
132 minutes
1985
2009 June
Apart from being based on the alleged true story of former defense
contractor TRW employee Christopher John Boyce and friend Andrew
Daulton Lee (as told in Robert Lindsey's true crime book), "The
Falcon and the Snowman" is in some ways more compelling as a work of
realism than "The Spook Who Sat by the
Door." In "The Falcon and the Snowman," two Euro-Amerikans appear
to do damage in an intelligence context, without becoming CIA
officers or leading a revolution. One of them, Chris Boyce (played by
Timothy Hutton) is a kind of clerk with top secret clearance and
access to CIA secrets, like the fictional character Dan Freeman in
"The Spook Who Sat by the Door." Unlike Freeman, Boyce does not train
to become a CIA officer. He gains his security clearance through
nepotism seemingly.
Obviously, the idea that running a photocopier in Langley is of no
importance except as a token job is erroneous. In the real world,
clerks doing boring work have been spies. It's not clear to this
writer that operating an encrypted teletype system as the real-life
Boyce did is much more challenging than the job of Dan Freeman in
"The Spook Who Sat by the Door." However, readers will notice that
MIWS's review of "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" says almost nothing
about the CIA per se. This is because "The Spook" isn't really about
the CIA. Whether or not a Black man could have really gotten a job
like Dan Freeman's in the CIA, whether the movie's portrayal of the
CIA is accurate, etc., the main character of "The Spook Who Sat by
the Door" knows what he is doing and he does it purposefully, even if
he couldn't have predicted his exact job in the CIA. This is related
to a theme of revolutionary passive-aggressiveness that unfolds
dialectically in "The Spook Who Sat by the Door." The movie's lessons
for people who are lumpen-influenced in a negative way, for example,
are much more important than anything connected to the CIA internally
with middle-class people. "The Spook" was and is quite timely and
realistic, not as a movie depicting Black revolutionary infiltration
of the CIA, but in other ways. The Black Panthers ridiculed people
who got hung up over grammar, but they also criticized those who
wanted to fire off quick speeches and who disdained education and
theory. The Black Panthers are famous for their armed image, but the
vast majority of the people who followed Huey Newton degenerated in
one way or another despite the advances the Black Panthers made. Much
energy was let out and lost, and those who followed or supported the
Black Panthers or individual leaders went in all kinds of directions.
"The Spook Who Sat by the Door" raises some ways to sustain a
movement. "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" is less instructive or
useful in other ways. Despite the Black Panthers' experience, Robert
F. Williams' experience, despite the whole COINTELPRO experience and
books about COINTELPRO, U.$. activists are often ignorant of the FBI
in practice, and it is questionable whether U.$. activists in
particular should be too interested in the CIA in general in terms of
its inner workings before dealing with the FBI. Another reason not to
take "The Spook Who Sat by the Door" too literally is that people are
likely to make inappropriate comparisons to Freeman. One thread on a
discussion forum for youth suggests that Barack Obama is a "spook
sitting by the door." Obviously, Barack Obama is a Black token as
elected by white liberals, but he is the boss of the spy bosses.
There is a big difference between being revolutionary working with a
small minority (or potentially working with an internal colony
plurality amidst oppressor state power), and trying to unite and
manipulate a majority of Amerikans or lead as the head of a majority
of Amerikans. Others, pursuing careers, have likened themselves to
Dan Freeman and slandered Freeman as being just a very clever person
serving his own individual interests and ego. Though Freeman reflects
something other than an infiltrator of the CIA, that does not mean
"The Spook" is a general integrationist movie (it is not
integrationist at all except perhaps in its impact on Euro-Amerikan
viewers and Black viewers who take the movie as a call to overcome
stereotypes and other obstacles to integration), or an individualist
movie the way some have suggested.
While the imperialist state is relevant with "The Spook Who Sat by
the Door," the CIA as a reality and a specific institution is more
relevant in the context of "The Falcon and the Snowman." The various
police and spy agency recruiters on U.$. campuses looking to recruit
Asians, Blacks and Latinos aren't a joke. Anyone who tries to pull a
"Dan Freeman" will probably find out quickly that "The Spook Who Sat
by the Door" for that purpose is just a movie. What might be more
controversial is the usefulness of people already in a government
agency or body, who are non-revolutionary. "The Falcon and the
Snowman" raises two things: that people who enter the
intelligence/counterintelligence arena at a high level cannot leave
even if they want to, and that Euro-Amerikan action accidentally or
otherwise helpful to the international proletariat is more likely to
take the form of disgruntlement than any kind of deep progressive
idealism, and individual rather than collective action.
In "The Falcon and the Snowman," Boyce, reading misrouted messages in
a guarded communications center of "RTX" (TRW) in Redondo Beach,
California, is upset to learn of CIA spying against a U.$. ally,
Australia, an imperialist country, and other U.$. allies. The content
of that distress could be Liberal-democratic, or Catholic, as Boyce's
background dealt with by the movie suggests. Boyce seems to resent
being deceived himself. The main theme of the movie seems to be, "How
could he do this?" He came from privilege, rich by Amerikan
standards. The movie points to different things, Boyce's relationship
with his father being one. Boyce seems to have something to say about
Watergate, but it comes out as cynicism. Unlike the main character in
"The Spook Who Sat by the Door," Boyce appears the type to go along
with something, but not go through with it, and grumble about it.
Focusing on Boyce's psychology, the movie suggests contradictory
explanations and explanations that are not weighted with respect to
each other. The constant is that Boyce is an individual who is
dissatisfied with something. In the United $tates, there are many
bourgeois and petty-bourgeois people who perceive themselves as not
being in control of their life. A lot of ideas and rhetoric attaches
itself to that -- Christian, New Age, proto-fascist, anarchist,
"communist," etc. -- but the solutions remain at an individual level
and in turn shape ideas and rhetoric. "Communism" can end up looking
very similar to a Christian sect.
Even when idealism is expressed, no practice specific to that
idealism may accompany it. In "The Falcon and the Snowman," Boyce
sells secrets to the U.S.S.R., but why not Australia, for example.
Boyce's reasoning isn't clear on going to the Soviets, rather than an
Australian embassy. Boyce's reason is probably opportunistic, an
assumption that the U.S.S.R., not China or any other country, would
be able to do the most with the information he has to offer. There is
a controversy over whether and the extent to which the real-life
Boyce was driven by a desire for money, but this writer would argue
that Boyce in "The Falcon and the Snowman" is opportunistic even if
he doesn't really want money and asking for money is just a way of
convincing the Soviets that he is not a too-eager triple agent.
Boyce's heroin addict, drug-dealing friend Daulton Lee (played by
Sean Penn), who amusingly reads spy novels, ironically shows more
intellectual interest in what he is doing than Boyce does. Lee has a
goal, even if it is just money or drugs, and he knows he needs to
learn things to reach that goal. Lee is not confused about what he is
doing. Before "delivery boy" Lee and Boyce start spying for the
Soviets, Lee hesitant accuses Boyce of subjectiveness. "Did it ever
occur to you that maybe you're seeing just exactly what you want to
see?" In contrast with Lee, Boyce goes from being a seminary student
to being a spy as if on a whim. He seems to be very muddled. He
becomes aware of something as an individual working in a company, but
his response to this is not driven by any principle except perhaps a
kind of Christian retribution. He has an idea that publicizing the
CIA's wrongdoings would not be effective with the majority of
Amerikans, but he is quick to act after the shock of learning about
CIA interventions. In fact, it is not clear whether Boyce's actions
are at all helpful to anyone.
Even when done informally and against an agency's rules, the sharing
of secrets between agencies of different imperialist countries can be
a way of cooperating or building for cooperation. In fact, that is a
common reason for having a back channel, cooperation. During the
1960s and the 1970s, the United $tates and the U.S.S.R. cooperated
against China through back channels (and openly in other cases). On
another level, people who take part in back channels between
competing imperialist country organizations, such as the Democratic
and Republican Parties during times of election commotion, are
suspect as seeking unity against the Third World or organizations not
in the loop. Even some back channels indistinguishable from
infiltration may function for cooperation, as may some infiltration
indistinguishable from one-way back channels. In "The Falcon and the
Snowman," Boyce mentions CIA intervention in Chile against democracy
as one of his complaints, but it is hard to tell whether Boyce's
actions actually weaken the U.$. intelligence apparatus.
Structurally, any kind of intelligence cooperation between two rival
imperialist countries may make some of each country's intelligence
effort redundant, so the question becomes how are the countries
affected in relation to each other and in relation to third
countries, not just what happens to the power of a country's
intelligence network. The size, for example, of the CIA may decrease,
but if the decrease is a result of cooperation with other countries'
intelligence agencies (or other U.$. intelligence agencies), the
synergy may be worse for the Third World. The bourgeoisie has
discussed how CIA-KGB cooperation made unnecessary some CIA spying in
the United $tates, some KGB spying in the U.S.S.R., and some CIA and
KGB spying in the Third World. Imperialist country intelligence
cooperation for world peace is a myth.
Not that this is that relevant to "The Falcon and the Snowman" per
se, but a satellite program that the real-life Christopher John Boyce
allegedly compromised was reportedly used to spy on Third World
countries, not just the U.S.S.R. As Christopher Boyce dealt in
cryptographic keys, not just technical specifications etc., for all
he knew he could have easily helped the Soviet Union to spy on China
using the United $tates as an unwitting proxy, not just fool the
United $tates with disinformation as commonly discussed. Since the
satellite program was reportedly used for both eavesdropping and
monitoring rocket development, for certain reasons Boyce could have
ended up contributing to a situation where a nuclear attack on China
was more likely. (Suggestively, in "The Falcon and the Snowman,"
Boyce and his colleagues in the defense contractor communications
center play the world domination strategy board game "Risk." One of
the colleagues says she wants to "keep North America" and proceeds to
"wipe out" a state elsewhere.) The allegations against Boyce point to
how spying structurally favors imperialist countries with lots of
resources to spend on spying. Imperialist countries spy on each
other, but they also spy on oppressed nations. Generally speaking,
information flows between imperialist countries, but from oppressed
nations to imperialist countries. Oppressed nations don't have the
dough to spend on buying the best information from spies or on
acquiring it by their own intelligence efforts or formally from other
countries. Regardless of oppressed nations' own intelligence efforts,
which are typically smaller than any imperialist country's
intelligence effort, imperialist countries with large intelligence
apparatuses end up becoming entangled in various ways -- dependent on
each other for information about other countries to fill in gaps;
reluctant to act against each other with too much to lose or too many
government secrets and knowing that the other has information about
it; mutually invested in diplomacy because of diplomatic cover
requirements in rich countries with restrictive entry and immigration
policies etc.; and other ways -- while oppressed nations are
relatively isolated amidst the formation of these relationships, but
are subject to being spied upon. Oppressed nations that take up
spying while allowing foreign penetration via tourism and other
openings, as some oppressed nations do, subject themselves to an
unequal spying regime. Oppressed nations that find this tolerable may
have governments inherently subservient to imperialists such that
their intelligence efforts are to some extent extensions of
imperialist country intelligence efforts, or have independent state
power and large populations. The Black Panthers didn't have state
power. China does, though it is an exploited country.
In "The Falcon and the Snowman," Chris Boyce goes to the Soviets as
if going to someone outside the CIA and the defense contractor is
inevitable. But, First Worlders' sabotaging their own organizations
without communicating with anyone outside could have done more damage
than communication with external spies or Third World organizations
in the 1970s. At some point, there will need to be a "surrender"
movement in North Amerika winding things down so the inevitable can
be allowed to take place with minimal bloodshed. It should not be
mistaken for a consciously anti-imperialist or internationalist
movement and is neither pro-Amerikan nor consciously anti-Amerikan.
Pointing out the need for a movement of surrender is not opportunist
except to people with delusions about the U.$. class structure as
containing a proletariat. People can fantasize about large and
concentrated revolutionary movements in First World nations, but any
activity in the First World contributing to its defeat will
correspond to the First World's class structure. If that activity
involves more than individuals or small networks of people, it will
be because the proletariat has made advances in psychological warfare
against the First World.
"The Falcon and the Snowman" suggests two reasons for capitulation
among others: drug addiction, and age vaguely. The First World class
structure being what it is, it is understandable that a movie would
focus on individual motivations (a special rebelliousness in Boyce's
case), but "The Falcon and the Snowman's" attempt to explain how two
all-American boys ended up in prison for spying is misleading.
Studying the biographies of two dissidents or "traitors" will not
result in an advance in practice as much as studying polls and
surveys, such as those done of various groups that lived during the
1960s-1970s. Being interviewed by investigators, Boyce talks about
the United $tates' use of nuclear weapons and his fear of people who
make powerful equipment that ends up in untrustworthy hands. Ideas
about Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Manhattan Project have been
floating around for decades. Not only are there not magical
combinations that will cause Amerikans or particular individuals to
act, studying the behavior of groups and the intersection of various
groups and events will generally be more informative than studying
another biography. In "The Falcon and the Snowman," even if Boyce
isn't a patriot as he suggests he isn't at different points
(referring to other Amerikans' likely perception of his actions),
Boyce's motivations are both similar to and different from numerous
alleged un-Amerikans, who are each typical, and unique in their own
way.
In addition to telling biographies of Boyce and Lee, "The Falcon and
the Snowman" raises that there is no such thing as ex-KGB. At one
point, having gone to Mexico City himself to transact with the Soviet
embassy/KGB there directly, Boyce informs the Soviets of his
intention to leave RTX to go to college. Lee's and Boyce's Soviet
handler says, "Christopher, you remember one thing. Impulsively or
not, you came to us; we didn't come to you. Whether you realize it or
not, you are a professional. . . . You can't leave here tonight free
of it all any more than I can. Did you really think you could? It's
not over, Christopher. It's just beginning." Also, one of Boyce's
colleagues has the line, "Once FBI, always FBI." The United $tates
alone has tens of thousands of spies in various agencies, so it seems
as though one could fantasize about a least a few of them opposing
First World interests. However, the popular idea that there is no
such thing as an ex-spy is true not just for the KGB, but for the CIA
and other contexts in which people are trained to act, sometimes
independently, on the basis of secrets that thousands of people won't
know. It is not just that ex-spies with certain knowledge and
abilities are subject to threats and manipulation like in Hollywood
movies.
Much more than imperialist country intelligence agents/workers
offering assistance, the oppressed are likely to face questions about
interacting with people who have probably been in contact with an
intelligence agency, but who do not present themselves as having
security clearances or secrets. The best spies are those who don't
even know they are spies, because their cover is psychologically and
biographically impenetrable. The ignorant and the lazy themselves
under surveillance, for example, can function as spies. Others
unconsciously carry out political warfare on behalf of an imperialist
country. The oppressed have to discern what kinds of things
contribute to advancement in international contexts and what does
not, when principles are being violated, and when there are no
principles.