The Good Shepherd: CIA and The Brotherhood of Death Work In Tandem To Keep The Secrets

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The Good Shepherd is a sprawling chronicle on the history of the the O.S.S and CIA and how they went about recruiting the cream of the crop at Yale university. What better place to find young men who could keep a secret, the Yale skull and bones secret fraternity housed the sons of the Anglo-American aristocracy. The Bonesmen made sure that their neophytes told their most hidden secret to their brothers much like the mafia requires rookies to have some dirt under their fingers to ensure that they can never testify against them.


The Good Shepherd's storyline spanned decades and keeping up with the storyline was very difficult. The amount of historic detail in this movie was staggering. Matt Damon played a very commendable role as a abrupt, obstinate and intolerable man who lead a regrettable life. By his actions in the CIA and at home destroyed his marriage and his son who wanted to follow in his footsteps.


The story unfolded with the "Bay of pigs" fiasco and how the Soviet Union was used by the Military Industrial Complex to play the role as the powerful rival of free world. The "War Wizards of Oz" will tell you not to pay any attention to the men behind the iron curtain. This allowed the CIA to operate unmolested. This drama shows the stark reality of manipulation during the cold war and applies to the current war on terror.

This movie is far too long and during the end the story grows cold and uninteresting. If you are a student of history you should see this movie. The cloak and dagger international intrigue of the CIA in many films seems almost romantic but for a drama and not a documentary this movie rings true in many aspects of the life of a central intelligence agent.

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Michael Vail