“Three Days of the Condor” Essay
“Three Days of the Condor“, a movie, a political thriller directed by Sydney Pollack, released in 1975 is the adaptation of the novel “Six Days of Condor” by American writer James Grady. The hero of Robert Redford Joe Turner is one of many (according to the movie) representatives of bookworms in the CIA. The film begins with a demonstration of one of such CIA departments. However, in a November day that professionalism played with him a cruel joke: when Turner was absent from the workplace, a group of people in camouflage uniforms and with weapons came to the office, led by hardened assassin Gibert and methodically shot all the people in the building. A little later it was revealed that the culprit of those events was Condor, who had sent to Washington an interesting report, found in some book materials and pit serious people in high ranks of the CIA against himself. Those events were followed by unequal struggle of one person with the powerful organization, in which some were obvious traitors, while others believed that Turner was a double agent and organizer of the execution of his colleagues in the office. Only several things can save the Condor: his self-preservation instinct, excellent analytical abilities and army signalman experience. He catches one of the chiefs of the CIA, and he tells Condor about the secret organization, which has been accidentally discovered. He decides to get revenge, but he is left behind by the main killer, who somehow shoots the CIA boss instead of the Condor. It turns out that situation has changed, and the murderer carries out orders of those who pay the most. He doesn’t need Condor any more. They almost become friends.
The film “Three Days of the Condor” can not be called political, it does not clearly say about politics in America, but it does have some moments, which tell about the fight of one man against the system. The main hero of the movie is also very interesting, he knows a lot about the peculiarities of the intelligence services, behavior of their agents, and this greatly helps him and tells how to act in a particular situation. It is also nice to see old footage of New York with its buildings and streets of 80’s, with the impressive towers of WTC.
At the beginning of the film, you do not know who stays behind the shooting. Both CIA agents and internal dissenters use the same methods even though they are pursuing different goals. Heartless communication with the operator suggests that the organization is illegible. By the way, the operator, who receives the calls, is sitting in a wheelchair. So that the expression “state within a state” has not only a negative sense. But the existence of a special caste in the society raises doubt about the huge separation from original countries.
The movie shows that the CIA protects the secrets better than griffin protects the gold. But when the whole truth becomes known to the public – it is no longer a secret, at least there is no sense to kill people. Talking about politics in the film, it is worth saying that Pollack appears as a Christian concerned about the immoral practices of dirty political institutions.
This movie has not so some links with the book “We the People: A Concise Introduction to American Politics”, written by Thomas E. Patterson. The book describes American history, government and political life of society at that time, while the movie doesn’t tell a lot about the whole American policy, touching the topic of CIA and the struggle of an individual against the system. The movie Three Days of the Condor can’t be called a guideline of US politics, as it depicts it not vividly, but only from one side. Anyway, both, the movie and the book make the viewer (reader) to think critically, analyze, and understand key concepts and ideas of social life of that time.
