Sir Michael gave a great performance in this film and was robbed of an Oscar.
I believe that the punchline ending of the film was resulted in this.
Having read the book of the same title as well as the biography of the
author I find that there is a lot of truth in the film.
Graham Greene was a British journalist and MI5 agent during the war and
worked in the communist countries during this time. He was also in
Vietnam during this period of history. His descriptions are vividly accurate. In addition the character Fowler could well be Graham Greene so therefore autobiographical. I found the film very deep. And having an understanding of the author hit it home even more.