The world of espionage has always been paradoxical. On the one hand, it requires doubts about everything. The more doubts, the more able to observe the subtleties. The integrity of the source is credible. In the play, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), a super-intelligence officer of the British intelligence center "MI6", has repeatedly persuaded the other side of the Iron Curtain to surrender, of course, for the intelligence of that side. Therefore, the intelligence center itself is a paradox: it requires absolute loyalty and surrender at the same time, and therefore, the cracks in this intelligence center are full of the enemy's double agents lurking. The main line of the play is to find this spy in the intelligence.
Because a new generation beat the old, George was tragically dismissed at the beginning of the film, but because he was outside the bureau, he was brought back by the authorities to hunt ghosts in the intelligence center. This frustrated old man once again used his super intelligence skills to secretly investigate the four senior intelligence officers in the intelligence center who are double agents. The main line is not particularly fascinating, but George's conversation with Connie, another fired intelligence officer, reveals the mystery of how we should look at the film. "It was a good time" when Connie reminisced with George with old photos. This reminiscence not only refers to their pure friendship and cooperation, but also recalls the chaotic war years. When George pointed out that it was a time of war, Connie didn't deny it, but said "it was a real war". In our age where coffee has no caffeine and wine has no alcohol, we have lost our reality; and Connie's retrospect of the war can be said to be a "passion for the Real".
Therefore, as Zizek pointed out, "cutters" have appeared in the United States in recent years, using razors or other methods to self-mutilate, returning to the reality of the body, in order to counteract the reality without being. This behavior is undoubtedly pathological, but it gives us a glimpse of the truth. It's not that George didn't have a passion for the truth. Just when he recalled his meeting with his opponent Karla, he entered the past time, which was originally a retelling, and suddenly turned into a first-person reenactment. However, "The Mystery of the Spy Network" ends when it stops. It doesn't get close to the truth, and it returns to reality. The reality in the play, it seems that there is a war, is actually just a game. Even Karla and George's duel this round is a bullshit, and it doesn't matter.
George finally found the double spy, and then returned to "MI6", as if loyalty won, as if to say that the old man is more reliable than the new man, as if standing on the opposite side of "Election Battle" and saying that the value of old age is still borrowed must be retained. But what doesn't change is that reality is still reality, and the era we live in is still a messy era. Whether it is a newcomer for the next generation or for the posterity to leave the newcomer to go, it is just a company-like personnel rotation. What I am thinking here is just how much to expect, how to operate, and the importance of maintaining oneself. As for Karla, maybe he's closer to being straight than George and the others. Even if he knew he was going to die and wanted to go back to Russia, even if George told him to come down, he was still indifferent. He was stronger than George, not because he was more scheming, but in his heart, there was a belief he believed with all his heart.
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