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Angelina Jolie’s “Salt” might heat up the old Cold War, but “Farewell,” which also opens (in select cities) tomorrow, takes us back to a pivotal moment in the real one:

French director Christian Carion’s real-life espionage thriller “Farewell” is set at what is arguably the era’s turning point: It’s 1981, Ronald Reagan is barely in office, and France’s François Mitterrand presents him with a list of Soviets who’ve infiltrated American government and business. Mr. Mitterrand also offers an extraordinary estimate: 40% of the Soviet budget is being spent on defense, most of it on pilfering technology. The Soviet Union can’t possibly survive, the White House says. Let’s propose a strategic missile-defense initiative and push ‘em over the edge.

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Here in New York, the taxes are excessive, rent is exorbitant, and our elected leaders are national laughing stocks, but if you love going to the movies, it is one of the best places to live.  We are usually the first and sometimes only city to get most theatrical releases, particularly idiosyncratic documentaries and foreign films.  We also get a chance to see thousands of unsold films playing New York Film Festivals, often in hopes of attracting a distribution deal.  This is the beat I have covered for four years on my blog and will now periodically report on for Big Hollywood, provided I keep it fresh and snappy. 

Of course, festivals vary widely in terms of size and quality, but the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s annual Rendezvous with French Cinema is a fair place to start.  Every time an Eastern European festival opens, it is like an early Christmas for me, because there will always be several films deeply critical of their former Communist overlords.  Yet, it seems even the French are more even-handed than Hollywood when addressing the Cold War on film.  A case in point was Rendezvous’s opening selection, Christian Carion’s Farewell, which was inspired by the real life case of KGB Colonel Vladimir Vetrov (renamed Grigoriev in the film).  

The disillusioned Colonel was charged with reviewing every last piece of Soviet intel, so he understands full well the extent to which western intelligence agencies were compromised.  As a result, he approaches a bewildered French businessman unconnected to the espionage world to pass on his staggering cache of classified information.  (more…)