Film No 105 (2019) November 17th. 2:45 PM LUNA PALACE Windsor, Nedlands .
"Listen, I really need to talk to you. I've found something big. You can break this story wide open". (The fateful phone conversation Jones has with friend and U.S. journalist Kleb, stationed in Moscow, prior to his departure to Russia and ultimately Ukraine).
Like Katharine Gun (Keira Knightley) in Official Secrets this Australian program of British films (Palace Festival) serves up another hero of the people. This time it's Gareth Jones (James Norton), the British diplomat/journalist who revealed to the world the extent of the Russian (Ukraine) famine which took the lives of millions in 1932/33; world catastrophe Stalin doggedly tried to hide behind his "iron curtain".
Shot in dark tones with a depth of bleakness rarely experienced in cinema, we are introduced to Jones; a journo who could best be described as being like a dog with a bone when it comes to seeking truth. After failing to convince a parliamentary committee in 1933 of the threat Hitler presented (he shared a private flight with Adolf) he turns his attention to Russia and the rumours of a human catastrophe occurring.
For some, Mr Jones has been slightly too long, (140 mins) but not for me. This historical drama will have you researching the era for days afterwards. A highlight performance comes in the shape of Peter Sarsgaard as the award-winning but later disgraced New York Times correspondent Walter Duranty. Sarsgaard gives a decidedly creepy interpretation. Jones was thwarted in every way by Duranty.
This is a quality costume drama to send a chill, quite literally, down your spine. Norton gives Jones the exact qualities of a hero of his time. The closing on-screen paragraph describing the fate of Jones left me stunned. He deserves a special place in journalistic history, along with Woodward and Bernstein. 10GUMS.
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