"Duplicity" starring Julia Roberts & Clive Owens: is it a CI movie?

[Rob Duncan]

Have you seen the trailers for the new Julia Roberts/Clive Owens movie?

http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=gkx2vYNE9V0

Would you say this is a movie about CI, however exaggerated?

It got me wondering if there are other movies about our profession? A fun question for a Friday night. Cheers.. Rob

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

Hello, Rob, I think there is at the very least one great movie else about our profession. If you only stop talking about exaggeration, naturally. ;-) Describing the movie Duplicity, they use the words "corporate spies" ["A pair of corporate spies who share a steamy past hook up to pull off the ultimate con job on their respective bosses." ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1135487/ )]. There you can find also a movie described as follows: "An unsuspecting, disenchanted man finds himself working as a spy in the dangerous, high-stakes world of corporate espionage. Quickly getting way over-his-head, he teams up with a mysterious femme fatale." ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284978/ ). My wife and I are going to watch the movie Cypher today's evening, so I'll drop a line about it tomorrow, I hope. Who of you will join us?

Best,
Tad

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

Let me therefore coin the moral of the movie Cypher : DO NOT ATTEND CONFERENCES WHICH PUT YOU TO SLEEP ["There are several points of interests here." (00:29:43/01:35:37) -- "Thank you for your attention." (00:35:39/01:35:37)]. ;-)

[Melanie Wing]

I wish my job were as sexy as this movie makes it look!! Where are the all day meetings? Where are the in-depth analysis of financial statements? Where is the POWERPOINT? Oh not to mention, where are the personal ethics? I'm just sayin'

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

Incidentally, do you see a strong connection between the information present in the trailer ["Claire Stenwick Ex-CIA" ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkx2vYNE9V0 -- 0:12 / 2:23)] and the news item Corporate Spies Killing The CIA. Nevertheless, I agree with you, Rob, about exaggeration exuding from the equation present in the sentence "One unpleasant, for government intelligence agencies, development of the last few decades has been the growing popularity of 'competitive intelligence' (corporate espionage.)" ( http://www.strategypage.com/htmw/htintel/articles/20080508.aspx ).

[Ellen Naylor]

I had heard about this movie from Tina at SCIP late last year. I think it was being filmed in Chicago at around the same time the WLC women's leadership forum took place. The trailer makes it look more like a thriller than reality, but that is what sells movies after all. Thanks for sharing the trailer, Rob. It does look like fun exaggerated though it be, and Julia Roberts in the intelligene world nonetheless.

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

Is Peak Oil ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1292796/ ) the next movie about our profession? I mean especially the fragment 22:00/44:28-22:11/44:28 in which Agent Heironymous Slade tells about puzzling development of Martin Lucas's scientific career: hence the first question of mine -- does the fragment 22:00/44:28-22:11/44:28 represent the next valuable contribution to the discussion on anonymity in the Internet era? :-) I mean also the fragment 42:28/44:28-42:46/44:28 in which viewers are aided by subtitles: hence the second question of mine -- how many foreign languages should competitive intelligence professionals learn besides Russian and Chinese? ;-)

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

There is also a movie recommended to us by the creator of Competitive Intelligence group IC en Español/IC em Português Discussions ( http://inteligenciacompetitivaenar.blogspot.com/2007/08/operaciones... ). I love Bartholomew 'Barley' Scott Blair's (played by Sean Connery) words "This is fun. Is that why you keep it secret?" [ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTx3ex_ab_E (06:59/10:01-07:04/10:01)]. ;-)

[Adrian Alvarez]

Hi Tadeusz,

Thanks for recommending my blog. I also noticed that you like the same sort of movies and that are a member of the Portuguese CI Group here.

Are you attending the Chicago conference? If so, maybe we can meet there and know each other in person. I am a member of SCIPs Board of Directors and also of its International Advisory Committee and as such would like to hear about the developments in Poland. If you want I can tell you what are we trying to do in Latam, Spain and Portugal..

Best regards,

Adrian

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

Dear Adrian, I'm deeply convinced that our meetings here can be more frequent and fruitful than during international conferences. Incidentally, don't forget dangers which accompany Cypher conferences mentioned by me above. ;-) But, joking apart, just some minutes ago I've received from PMR Consulting ( http://www.pmrconsulting.com ) Szymon Konop's article Competitive intelligence in Central Eastern Europe and Russia ordered by me with the help of e-mail. Let's therefore begin our conversation by analyzing it. I agree with Szymon Konop's emphasis put on heterogeneity. However, I don't agree with him that in Poland using the word "intelligence" creates more negative than positive associations. Mostly because this word isn't associated with "the secret police monitored citizens' lives" [see, for example, "the plain-clothes police officer, Bretschneider" ( http://members.tripod.com/~vojtisek/hasek/17101_en.htm )] but rather with such tragic persons as Konrad Wallendrod ( http://www.shvoong.com/books/192144-konrad-wallenrod-motive-crime-w... ): hence, as I proved many times here, the word "intelligence" (in Polish "wywiad zagraniczny") creates many more positive than negative associations, especially in Polish Master of Business Administration environment.

Best,
Tad

[Adrian Alvarez]

Dear Tad,

At conferences there is limited time to meet, but my experience is that you can get friends there, as after having met personally a more profound relationship emerges, of course, if nurtured properly. And with over 70 sessions, I do not believe that you will get bored, as there is something for everyone. Anyway, this means is not bad at all!

Honestly, I can not say anything regarding how the word intelligence is perceived in Poland, but what you say is very interesting.

I can tell you that there are two positionings in the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries, some people perceive the word intelligence with its negative connotations and call it corporate espionage with another name. Other people perceive the word intelligence with being smart (having intelligence/tener inteligencia means being smart), which not a bad connotation at all. But it is also dangerous, because people can make fun of it, as some friends with strategic intelligence on their business cards keep telling me. In any event, most people (99. all the nines you can think of) do not know what is about, even the ones with the word intelligence on their business cards!

In any event it will take a lot of time and effort to make it fly in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. But there are some efforts everywhere to make it happen.

Best,

Adrian

[Tadeusz Lemańczyk]

All Cypher fans know that writing above just such moral of the movie I haven't meant DO NOT ATTEND CONFERENCES WHICH MAKE YOU BORED. I simply don't wish to hear during any of them the words "You are not Tadeusz Lemańczyk. You are not married to Lidia Lemańczyk. [...] Your wife is Diane Thursby. You live in Redmond, Washington." (00:34:10/01:35:37-00:35:02/01:35:37). ;-)

[Adrian Alvarez]

Hi Tad,

If it were for me, I would not mind looking like Clive Ovens at all Julia Roberts as lover is not bad neither... ;)

Best