Too Many Ambiguous References Made it Disappointing

Rating: 8/10 (23 December 2006)

This movie was more of a character study than a spy film in the typical sense--and though the characters and events did bear some resemblance to bits and pieces of accepted versions of historic events--those parallels were uncomfortable and confusing for me.
The name chosen for Damon's character, Edward Wilson, was unfortunate in that it brought to mind real-life rogue CIA officer Edwin Wilson, who used his position to amass personal wealth, was probably involved in Iran-contra and alleged CIA drug dealing, was convicted of selling 20 tons of C-4 to Libya in the 1980's, and sentenced to prison, where he remained until 2 years ago.
The lines between factual representation and fiction, were too weirdly blurred, and it was never clear who and what the characters and events were trying to represent. I know enough about US Intelligence history, the Bay of Pigs, and the players on the field during that period not to have a lot of problems with the movie.
I've seen reviews that draw parallels between Damon's character and James Jesus Angleton, former CIA counterintelligence chief, but I've read enough about Angleton to dismiss those as nonsense. Angleton was highly egotistical, morally flawed, and something of a lunatic--compared to the movie's Edward Wilson, who seemed to be a good man with good motives, who made some mistakes of judgment and may have discovered too late that the sacrifices involved in his chosen profession were too great.
In a movie, every character and event should have a purpose. Who was the poetic, Nazi-sympathizing, academic mentor, Michael Gambon character supposed to be? Was it Ernest Hemingway? Ken Kesey? What about the references to the KGB defectors and what was the whole "Ulysses" reference about? The CIA didn't usually handle KGB defectors inside the US, the FBI did--which made for drawing uncomfortable parallels to FBI traitor Robert Hanssen. Those were further reinforced by references to the Skull & Bones Society which seemed to hint at Hanssen's membership in the secretive Catholic society, Opus Dei.
In summary, if someone could point to the various characters and events and tell me what real-life people and events they were based on, I think I might like the movie better. If anyone can do that for me, please, please do.