Seeing the World Through Books

Jenny Dunfree gets her first hint of some of the difficulties she will face during an ornithological research project in the San Blas Islands, off the coast of Panama, when the ticket agent at the airport refuses to sell her a one-way ticket. Insisting that she will want to return the following day, Jenny is unable to convince anyone that she will be on Sugatupu for an extended period of time. Her duties, funded by a foundation, are to study a nest of harpy eagles, a rare species, and keep notes on their behavior, their feeding habits, and any eaglets which may appear. Exhausted when she makes her way to Sugatupu by canoe, she is immediately accosted by a young boy who drags her to the village meeting house. There, she must list her genealogy for the village elders. They do not want her name, just that of her family. In fact, she is not allowed to tell her name, nor is anyone else allowed to ask it. “Without a name, do I have a soul? Am I a real person?” she wonders. Ultimately, it is Jenny’s respect for the culture and beliefs which make the novel work. Though it is clear that some aspects of the culture of these islands will inevitably change, the author’s own work there as a “cultural guide” and “technical advisor to a women’s cooperative” will help preserve the essence of their way of life.

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Based on the novel by John LeCarre, this action-packed screenplay by Andrew Davies and LeCarre showcases Panama City in the heady times immediately before the Canal was turned over to Panamanian control in 1977. Andrew Osnard (Pierce Brosnan), a free-wheeling British intelligence officer in the doghouse with his superiors, is assigned to Panama to be sure that “the world’s biggest trade gate does not fall into the wrong hands.” Meeting tailor Harry Pendel (Geoffrey Rush) in his shop, Osnard observes that Pendel has contact with all the important members of the Panamanian government, the opposition, the press, and the diplomatic corps, and, using blackmail, recruits Pendel as a spy for Britain. The plot is nearly identical to that of Graham Greene’s famous novel and 1959 film of Our Man in Havana, and the viewer will find few, if any, surprises as the meddling by Osnard and Pendel unfolds. This is, however, a glitzy film which offers plenty of exotic atmosphere, violence, sex, and intrigue.

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