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This update originated from this contribution of mine, where an Irish diplomat explains the cultural divisions within Comintern, based of his own experiences in foreign affairs. But I realize now that such a person could gain enormous public respect and admiration for a career that proved to be colorful, especially if they wrote about it.
Competing Ideologies!
Competing Ideologies is a 1996 FBU-Irish comedy-satire film, directed by Monty Pyhton alumnus Terry Jones. Set in Moscow during the 1960s, it tells the story of a beleaguered Irish diplomat in who finds himself endlessly harassed by three Comintern agents who compete to be the ones to convert him to the worker's cause, and scrutinized by his Irish superiors who suspect him of Red sympathies.
Summary
Harold Finnegan (Brendan Grace) [1] is a low-level Irish diplomat based in the embassy in 1963 Moscow. Like every Irish diplomat in Comintern, he is under severe surveillance by his own government, since Comintern seeks to ferment revolution in Ireland and tries to recruit Irish citizens when it can. Finnegan is humiliated by two G2 [2] agents when they discover his stuffed elephant during a sweep of his apartment, and browbeaten by his holier-than-thou superior Enda McFeeny (Peter O'Toole).
While sulking at bar, Finnegan is bought a beer by a self-proclaimed Russian violinist named Alexei (Yakov Smirnoff), really a Soviet agent and international recruiter who secretly photographs them both as proof that he is successfully recruiting an Irish diplomat. The picture is quickly intercepted by Melissa (Christina Applegate), a young American diplomat and political radical who wants to recruit Finnegan through her sex appeal to increase her own profile, to the chagrin of Michael (Fred Savage) her co-worker and a political moderate who believes that harassing civilians does not do the cause any good, and that letting people come of their own volition is the wiser option. Melissa herself faces competition from Alberto (Andy Garcia) a Cuban exile who believes that Irish history of resisting the English will make him, a Cuban, successful negotiator.
The methods of the three agents, from gifts, to attempts at seduction, to mailing him propaganda, only exasperate the guy more and more, and bring him under greater scrutiny from the G2 agents. Eventually, the stress drives Finnegan into a drinking binge, and he gets hit by a car after wandering into the street while intoxicated. Even worse, G2 agents find a saucy letter sent by Melissa to him, and they send the evidence to McFeeny, who sends the hospitalized Finnegan a note of dismissal.
Feeling responsible for the behavior of his fellow agents, Michael visits Finnegan incognito, and discovers the man hates Communism more than ever, and blames Communism for letting his family down. Michael furiously confronts all three of the agents for what they did to Finnegan, violating the principles of socialism by using a human being as an asset, and orders them to try and save his job.
Using their spy skills, the three agents discover that McFeeney slept with a Russian prostitute, and paid for her abortion, a transgression that could cost him his job. They successfully blackmail him to reinstate Finnegan or be exposed by the Irish press. Finnegan is reinstated and promoted, and he goes home happily, while the agents resolve to use more humane methods in the future.
Background
Terry Jones was inspired by Sean Fitzpatrick's groundbreaking 1993 work, Diplomacy: The Hidden Rules.
Born in 1928, Sean Fitzpatrick worked as a diplomat for Ireland for 37 years, between 1953 and 1990, spending much of his time in Red nations, including a term as Ireland's ambassador to the UASR between 1985 and 1987. While Fitzpatrick's work was renowned for its unorthodox methods in instructing diplomacy, Jones saw comedy gold in autobiographical sections in The Hidden Rules, when Fitzpatrick describes the countless times he claims that some Red recruiter tried to bring him into the socialist cause, and how they used grossly intrusive methods to do so.
Many scenes in the movie such as when Grace's character tried to hide the sacks of Socialist letters he had received from G2, and when Applegate's character tried to give Grace's character a bikini car wash were confirmed by Fitzpatrick as completely true.
[1] Hilarious OTL Irish comedian.
[2] Ireland's CIA.
Competing Ideologies!
Competing Ideologies is a 1996 FBU-Irish comedy-satire film, directed by Monty Pyhton alumnus Terry Jones. Set in Moscow during the 1960s, it tells the story of a beleaguered Irish diplomat in who finds himself endlessly harassed by three Comintern agents who compete to be the ones to convert him to the worker's cause, and scrutinized by his Irish superiors who suspect him of Red sympathies.
Summary
Harold Finnegan (Brendan Grace) [1] is a low-level Irish diplomat based in the embassy in 1963 Moscow. Like every Irish diplomat in Comintern, he is under severe surveillance by his own government, since Comintern seeks to ferment revolution in Ireland and tries to recruit Irish citizens when it can. Finnegan is humiliated by two G2 [2] agents when they discover his stuffed elephant during a sweep of his apartment, and browbeaten by his holier-than-thou superior Enda McFeeny (Peter O'Toole).
While sulking at bar, Finnegan is bought a beer by a self-proclaimed Russian violinist named Alexei (Yakov Smirnoff), really a Soviet agent and international recruiter who secretly photographs them both as proof that he is successfully recruiting an Irish diplomat. The picture is quickly intercepted by Melissa (Christina Applegate), a young American diplomat and political radical who wants to recruit Finnegan through her sex appeal to increase her own profile, to the chagrin of Michael (Fred Savage) her co-worker and a political moderate who believes that harassing civilians does not do the cause any good, and that letting people come of their own volition is the wiser option. Melissa herself faces competition from Alberto (Andy Garcia) a Cuban exile who believes that Irish history of resisting the English will make him, a Cuban, successful negotiator.
The methods of the three agents, from gifts, to attempts at seduction, to mailing him propaganda, only exasperate the guy more and more, and bring him under greater scrutiny from the G2 agents. Eventually, the stress drives Finnegan into a drinking binge, and he gets hit by a car after wandering into the street while intoxicated. Even worse, G2 agents find a saucy letter sent by Melissa to him, and they send the evidence to McFeeny, who sends the hospitalized Finnegan a note of dismissal.
Feeling responsible for the behavior of his fellow agents, Michael visits Finnegan incognito, and discovers the man hates Communism more than ever, and blames Communism for letting his family down. Michael furiously confronts all three of the agents for what they did to Finnegan, violating the principles of socialism by using a human being as an asset, and orders them to try and save his job.
Using their spy skills, the three agents discover that McFeeney slept with a Russian prostitute, and paid for her abortion, a transgression that could cost him his job. They successfully blackmail him to reinstate Finnegan or be exposed by the Irish press. Finnegan is reinstated and promoted, and he goes home happily, while the agents resolve to use more humane methods in the future.
Background
Terry Jones was inspired by Sean Fitzpatrick's groundbreaking 1993 work, Diplomacy: The Hidden Rules.
Born in 1928, Sean Fitzpatrick worked as a diplomat for Ireland for 37 years, between 1953 and 1990, spending much of his time in Red nations, including a term as Ireland's ambassador to the UASR between 1985 and 1987. While Fitzpatrick's work was renowned for its unorthodox methods in instructing diplomacy, Jones saw comedy gold in autobiographical sections in The Hidden Rules, when Fitzpatrick describes the countless times he claims that some Red recruiter tried to bring him into the socialist cause, and how they used grossly intrusive methods to do so.
Many scenes in the movie such as when Grace's character tried to hide the sacks of Socialist letters he had received from G2, and when Applegate's character tried to give Grace's character a bikini car wash were confirmed by Fitzpatrick as completely true.
[1] Hilarious OTL Irish comedian.
[2] Ireland's CIA.
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