John Le Carré has been writing espionage novels for half a century now, and some classic movies have resulted, chief among them The Spy Who Came in from the Cold (1965), The Little Drummer Girl (1984), The Constant Gardener (2005) and two TV miniseries featuring Alec Guinness, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (1979), and Smiley’s People (1982).  As opposed to the James Bond style of superstar spying, Le Carré’s espionage agents are usually older, nondescript, even dowdy people adept at staying out of sight.  His thrillers are dense, complex explorations of real-life spy craft where heroes and villains often share similar outlooks and actions.

Following the recent Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy with Gary Oldman, it seems that Le Carré is enjoying a cinematic renaissance.  A Most Wanted Man, directed by Anton Corbijn, chronicles the manhunt for a suspected Islamic extremist in Hamburg, Germany, where the head (Philip Seymour Hoffman) of an elite anti-terrorism unit marshals his forces to find the man and keep the streets safe.  Suspicion surrounds the man (Grigoriy Dobrygin), but there are also efforts on behalf of well-meaning people to keep him safe and provide him with what he wants.  And hovering above all the commotion are representatives of very large governments with questions they need to see answered, and quickly.

The main issue at work is trust.  Gunther Bachmann (Hoffman) doesn’t trust anyone; not after his network was blown in Beirut.  His team trusts him, but it is a self-aware trust that could disappear quickly.  No one trusts the refugee (Dobrygin), even though he has the physical proof that his background story is true.  Bachmann forces a hot lawyer (Rachel McAdams) and hot-shot banker (Willem Dafoe) to work with him, but they certainly don’t trust him.  One of Bachmann’s informants needs reassurance almost constantly that he is doing the right thing.  And, of course, the refugee trusts no one, although he has no choice but to trust everyone.

As the story unfolds and the stakes rise the film acquires a scope, strategic if not political, that sweeps everything into their places in the gigantic puzzle.  The climax ought to be automatic because everything is predetermined by that point — and yet it is still shocking and stunning because we are still at the character perspective, not looking at the big picture.  Corbijn and his actors keep the story personal, so when it turns impersonal — as it must — it is quite the revelation for a few moments.  Then everything becomes understandable as our perspective shifts to the larger scope and the world makes sense again, even if it is horribly unfair.

There is a great deal of merit in this movie.  Hoffman, who died in February but is still to be seen in The Hunger Games wrap-up, is superb.  His accent is heavy — and so is he — but his exhausted, burned out character is spot on.  McAdams’ accent is far more distracting as it comes and goes, but she looks great.  Dafoe is solid and Robin Wright nearly steals the show as a sharp American agent trying to win the confidence of Gunther Bachmann.  The film has the proper gravitas and attention to detail; Le Carré also serves as an executive producer.  It’s a fine, sharply delineated paean to the shadow world of espionage, though it could have used a little bit more action before the climax.  ☆ ☆ ☆ 1/2.  14 August 2014.