NEW TO HULU! Agnieszka Holland’s wartime thriller, Mr. Jones, opens ominously with author George Orwell (Joseph Mawle) behind his typewriter, banging out the opening pages to his novel, Animal Farm. More on this later. In my review of Resistance, I posed the question if we have had more than our fair share of Holocaust movies, and in fairness, the same could be said about World War II. I would classify Mr. Jones as a WWII film, though it takes place during the years leading up to Germany’s invasion of Russia.
James Norton is Gareth Jones, a British foreign affairs specialist working for Lloyd George (Kenneth Cranham). His specialty is Russia, although he has a way of finding himself in the most curious of places. Most recent would be his face-to-face interview with an up-and-coming political hack Adolf Hitler. But Jones’ concern now is with Stalin’s Russia. First, as Communist Russia appears to be building its military defenses, Jones doubts it’s prepared to defend itself from a German invasion. Also, Jones wonders how exactly is an economically depressed Russia able to find the resources necessary to build its military at this time. Could the answer be in neighboring country Ukraine and once fruitful nation, now experiencing a severe famine?
“…Jones poses as a journalist seeking a meeting with Stalin.”
Jones is obsessed with getting the answer. Lloyd George won’t send him as Jones is immediately laid off from the foreign affairs office. He was told his release was for budgetary reasons, but he suspects it was because he was raising red flags about Hitler and Russia that no one wants to believe.
Almost immediately, Jones poses as a journalist seeking a meeting with Stalin. His request was granted, and he packs his bags for a visit with the Kremlin. Upon arrival, he meets with an English businessman Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), who is forming a lucrative deal with Russia along with his team of engineers.
He also makes his way to the British Embassy looking for assistance to meet with Stalin. At the embassy, Jones meets Ada Brooks (Vanessa Kirby), who knows more than she appears to know and herself is a communist with a profound respect for Stalin’s vision.
What Mr. Jones ultimately turns into is a pre-war political thriller. Jones is in Russia as a journalist, but Russian intelligence is suspicious of him and Ada. A wise man once said, “In Russia, you don’t go to party, party comes to you.” The two use low-level spy techniques to engage in private conversation, such as typing out a conversation and burning the evidence (007 would be less than impressed).
"…it was a story I never knew before about a period of history I knew nothing about…"
