Enigma

Based on R2 DVD by EuroVideo 98 min

Direction and editing could be better as the story is occasionally confusing for no good reason, lacks tension and the ending is very abrupt. The DVD is in 4:3.

All that aside, both stars [looking very young indeed] turn in respectable performances and the locations look authentic.

6/10 a little generous but worth watching on TV

This intelligent, meticulously plotted, robustly acted cold war thriller by gifted director, Jeannot 'Jaws 2' Szwarc retains much of its weighty, grimly atmospheric iron Curtain gravitas. 'Enigma' is a downbeat, fiendishly gripping 80s espionage yarn, with the disarmingly charismatic, Sam Neill's audacious attempts to out 'cat & mouse' an indefatigable Sheen is dramatically set against a doomy, oppressively glacial East Berlin backdrop, and the distractingly delicious blonde, Karen Reinhardt (Brigitte Fossey) vividly completes this increasingly dangerous, daringly duplicitous ménage à trois! The Teflon tough 'Enigma' provides exciting, nerve-twanging thrills, its grim, suffocatingly paranoid miasma of frost-bitten, pre-perestroika gloom maintained throughout, with Alex's and Karen's burgeoning love affair lending additional pathos to, Szwarc's engrossing, bullet-paced thriller. There is a dynamic, Len Deighton-esque quality to, Alex Holbeck's (Martin Sheen) increasingly desperate attempts to covertly purloin a cumbrous-looking soviet scrambler. In a rousing finale, Alex find's himself only merest heartbeats away from capture, frequently relying on guile, rather than brawn to elude his dogged, equally devious nemesis, Dimitri Vasilikov (Sam Neill).

In Paris, American-born East German defector and radio talk show host Martin Sheen (as Alexander "Alex" Holbeck) is recruited by the CIA to go to Berlin and steal "The Enigma Machine" which scrambles secret Cold War spy messages. This will help the US thwart the USSR's planned assassination of five defectors to the west. In East Berlin, Mr. Sheen fools the KGB with various disguises. He sprays silver in his hair, but it looks the same. Sheen seeks out former girlfriend Brigitte Fossey (as Karen Reinhardt) and she sets out to seduce their "unsophisticated but shrewd" enemy, Moscow swimmer Sam Neill (as Dimitri Vasilikov). Sheen sometimes appears bored with this confusing adaptation of a good idea. His co-stars make their final confrontation scene work well.

***** Enigma (1/28/83) Jeannot Szwarc ~ Martin Sheen, Brigitte Fossey, Sam Neill, Derek Jacobi

Martin Sheen is the hero and Sam Neill is the villain, the cowboy and the cossack. Who will win this spying game in East Berlin behind the wall of the Cold War, all filmed in Lille and Strasbourg apart from some scenes in Paris? The story is very contrived and improbable, as if the whole idea of the film was to make it as enigmatic and mysterious as possible, as no one could possible get the hang of all these constructed technical details of early computer technique, while at least there is a woman who makes this muddled hide-and-seek story human, by adding some romanticism in spite of all this Cold War dreariness. Sam Neill actually wins the prize as the better actor, and his character is more interesting and human, while Martin Sheen is just efficient. Derek Jacobi plays third fiddle and is lost in the general confusion of occupation of embassies, fires in the cultural centre and total rebellion and uproar in a mental hospital, which is the most impressive scene of the film. Brigitte Fossey is lovely and delicate and does what she has to do, and she loves them both, and both deserve it.

Former spy Martin Sheen is now broadcasting for the Voice of America. His erstwhile boss offers him a major payday to switch some electronic gizmo that will give the CIA an ear into OGPU headquarters; all he has to do is head to Berlin, meet up with former lover Brigitte Fossey, evade every Stassi agent in the country and Russian spy Sam Neill.

It's one of those movies with an old-time serial feel: how's Sheen going to get out of this cliff-hanger? And why are people doing whatever it is they're doing? French locations in mid-winter and drab signs stand in for a depressing East Germany, and Jeannot Szwarc's explication-free direction doesn't pander to the audience, but keeps the movie interesting throughout.