Written by Andrea Chalupa
Directed by Agnieszka Holland
Starring James Norton, Vanessa Kirby and Peter Sarsgaard
Running time: 2 hours and 21 minutes

by Fiona Underhill

The pre-war period of the 1930s is one of the most fascinating of the twentieth century and, in terms of film, has perhaps most famously been explored through Hitchcock’s espionage thrillers eg. The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934), The 39 Steps (1935), The Secret Agent (1936) and Sabotage (1937). After WWI, nationalism and fascism rose in Germany, Spain and Italy in the 20s and 30s, at roughly the same time as the rise of communism in Soviet Russia, meaning that, like the Cold War period that followed WWII, it was an era of distrust and uncertainty. While news of the Holocaust emerged after WWII, other horrors which occurred outside of ‘war’ time are less well known. Such is the case with the Holodomor – a Ukrainian famine that occurred in 1932-1933 and was man-made (deliberately inflicted by Soviet Russia), in which the death toll is estimated to be between 3 and 7.5 million. 

Agnieszka Holland is best known for her delightful 1993 adaptation of The Secret Garden, but also directed the TV movie of an incredible book – 2001’s Shot in the Heart (starring Giovanni Ribisi and Elias Koteas), as well as episodes of TV including The Wire, Treme, The Killing, The Affair and House of Cards. She was Oscar-nominated for her screenplay for Europa Europa (1990). She now takes on this complex story, within an even more complex period of history, which of course, can only do so much within the time-frame of a feature film. 

The story follows Welsh journalist Gareth Jones (James Norton) using his connection to former Prime Minister Lloyd George to infiltrate Ukraine, where he discovers the atrocity unfolding. Before going to Ukraine, he meets Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times journalist Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard) and his assistant Ada Brooks (Vanessa Kirby) in Moscow. It is clear that Duranty is happy to perpetuate Soviet propaganda, while Brooks cautiously and reluctantly reveals to Jones secret concerns she has, regarding the recent suspicious death of a colleague. 

James Norton has become something of a fixture of period TV (Death Comes to Pemberley, Life in Squares, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, War and Peace, Grantchester) and film (Belle, Little Women) to the point where a smartphone would seem utterly wrong in his hands. He’s not the most charismatic actor (the descriptors bland and forgettable come to mind) but his everyman quality works well for the titular Mr. Jones. Vanessa Kirby still seems relegated to tiny roles, despite her recent high-profile turns in Mission Impossible: Fallout and The Crown. She is under-used here, yet again, and really deserves something more meaty to sink her teeth into. There is a clumsy and cringey moment between Brooks and Jones, but then Kirby’s character is almost never seen again, so this plotline is not explored. Kirby is, of course, excellent in her limited screen-time. Sarsgaard is also brilliant as the corrupt Duranty, happy to ‘report’ what is required, as long as he’s getting to live the high-life. 

The Ukraine-set scenes are where the emotional power of the film of course lies. As Jones discards orange peel aboard a train, a hoard of ravenously hungry people (including children) are waiting to pounce on it and devour it. Jones gradually realises the extent of the famine and the fact that many have been reduced to cannibalism. An effective scene is when Jones eventually returns to London and goes to a meeting in a restaurant, where he is visibly discomforted to the point of nausea, surrounded by people indulging themselves in rich, luxurious foods. 

The production design and costume design are of the detailed level you would expect from a period drama, with a particular highlight being Duranty’s decadent Moscow party. The score is, unfortunately, nothing to write home about. Another detail that doesn’t quite work is the inclusion of George Orwell (Joseph Mawle), who was tangentially related to the events, as an outspoken socialist writer (he wrote The Road to Wigan Pier and Homage to Catalonia in this period), but anti-Stalinist. Orwell bookends the film and it becomes clear at the end that he is writing Animal Farm, which is obviously critical of Stalin, perhaps suggesting it was a direct response to the events we’ve just seen. Due to this being a film and not a television series, this comes across as simplistic shoe-horning, rather than Orwell being a fully-fleshed out ‘character.’ This is a wider problem for the film as a whole, as the story is just too complex to do it justice in a two-hour run-time and the characters don’t have time to be delved into properly either. The pre-war period is explored much more fascinatingly in a TV series like Babylon Berlin, because there is the time to do it justice.

Unfortunately, I will say that I’ve gained a lot more from Googling the real people and historical events depicted in Mr Jones than I have from the film itself. It works as a jumping-off point, to bring awareness to events that aren’t as well-known as the atrocities that happened in the two World Wars themselves. It highlights the facts that many governments don’t need wars or an ‘enemy’ in order to carry out unimaginable horrors. So, regrettably, I cannot recommend this film too highly, but I do think it’s worth looking up Gareth Jones and the Holodomor, as it is a reminder of the essential work that journalists have done and still are doing.