"My father lived in shadows," says filmmaker Carl Colby in voiceover. "He liked being invisible." His documentary is a valiant but ultimately futile attempt to understand William Colby, the ex-CIA head who died in 1996. Who could figure out this close-to-the-vest cold fish who revealed nothing personal to anyone, certainly not to his family, but spent the best days of his life involved in frightening intelligence schemes, including assassinations, while representing the USA? It was Colby who was behind Operation Phoenix in Vietnam, which allowed for the torture and killings of ostensible enemies of the South Vietnamese government. For this reprehensible work, Colby was appointed head of the CIA by Richard Nixon, and soon aided Tricky Dick with his illegal political operations. A great guy? Not really, and fortunately son Carl Colby avoids sentimentalizing his dad. Or really forgiving William Colby his sins as a bloody cold warrior, and as a bloodless, distant father.
