Need some help. Confused with the part when Valentin Mironov keeps saying he's Valentin Mironov. Than Ray Brocco beats the Living S--t out of them. My question is why did Ray Brocco beat him up. Was it because he was lying on who it was. So he was not Valentin Mironov??? Than why did he jump out of the window and kill himself. I'm very confused with that part. Can somebody explain it to me. Thanks.
shareHe *was* the real Mironov. It was later shown that the other Mironov was in fact Yuri Morin. The only reason I can see why he jumped out the window was alluded to in the trivia section- the CIA overdosed some of their subjects when giving them LSD.
shareSo what was the point of doing that to the real Mironov than. The CIA should of did that to Morin than.
sharedid you watch the movie at all? the CIA had 2 Valentin's in their possession, one could argue that they could've done more homework to make sure Valentin #1 was legit or not, but none of us worked for the gov't back then. I don't recall how much time had past between the Valentin's coming to America, maybe LSD wasn't available when #1 showed up?
they gave Valentin #2 the LSD because they man told Edward that they have had good success with it as a truth serum to find out if Valentin #2 was really who he said he was. He jumped out the window because he was high as fvck.
Brandon
I witnessed tribes of Judah reduced to ruin
This all true, but the film doesn't really tell us why the CIA trusted the first guy and not the second.
In the end, they got it wrong, and there were severe consequences.
exactly, the film doesn't explain why they believed the first guy so easily and why they wouldn't believe the second guy.
I am all for films that make the audience think, and not treat them as idiots, but this film takes it way too far
What sort of a gestapo officer are you, saying somebody is innocent?
The CIA believed the first Valentin with such gusto because because 1. He passed the interrogation test successfully indentifyibg Uylesses and 2. Because he was a high level officer of the KGB and in the fifties the CIA was pretty desperate for information because they couldn't get any spies within the Kremlin. The 1st Valentin gave them some info but warned a KGB plant would be sent to discredit him hence their distrust of the 2nd Valentin.
shareBut the first Mironov didn't pass the polygraph test and gives a ridiculous explanation, claiming that all Russians fail the test, and they somehow believe him...
Since the second guy claims he is Mironov until he dies, why didn't they torture also the first guy, just to be sure who is who?
I think the reason they didn't go back and "redo" #1 is simple human arrogance, leading to cognitive dissonance.
It's the same reason people believe some of "our" government's fairy tale cover stories. They WANT to.
The CIA, including Wilson, had bought #1's bogus story. They probably liked him personally, too. To admit they erred would be embarrassing, if not worse. They had probably executed good people that #1 had fingered.
The deal with the violin was Wilson admitting to himself he'd been wrong. Maybe he even thought #1 would flub it and not be able to play, giving himself and others a good laugh at themselves later on.
BTW, I took it that Wilson looking through the book happened BEFORE the violin visit. It gives background as to Wilson starting to seriously doubt #1, maybe beginning at #2's LSD-induced suicide.