MR JONES
Poland/UK/Ukraine, 2019, 141 minutes, Colour.
James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle, Kenneth Cranham, Febella Woolgar.
Directed by Agnieszka Holland.
Mr Jones seems an innocuously generic title (and there was a thriller some years ago with the same title, featuring Richard Gere). However, this is a historical drama, taking the audience back to the 1930s, introducing an actual character, the young Welshman, Gareth Jones, a political advisor to Lloyd George and seen giving advice to the British cabinet. As those familiar with Winston Churchill’s campaigns against the Nazis during the 1930s, there is no surprise that the cabinet does not welcome the advice from Gareth Jones. On the contrary, Lloyd George has to dismiss him.
This film is been directed by the Polish director with quite an international repertoire, Agnieszka Holland. It continues her interest in stories about World War II in the years leading up to it, especially for some of her Polish films including Angry Harvest and In Darkness,
However, the narrative of Mr Jones ranges far more widely.
Gareth Jones’ mother had worked in Ukraine and Gareth himself was familiar with the Russian language. An earnest man, he is at first put off by his treatment from the British government but then decides to go to Russia and to the Ukrainian to investigate Stalin’s then claims of successful five-year plans, of prosperity, of grain crops. Jones is of the opinion that there is no evidence for the success and wants to prove it.
After eventually getting his visa to visit Russia, he travels to Moscow by train, immediately experiences difficulties with the bureaucracy, the hotel he has to stay at, the limited time there… But, in the meantime, he makes contact with other journalists (one of whom warning him about Stalin and the news coming that he had been killed in an accident), especially the Americans, the Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist, Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), who lives a comfortably decadent life in Moscow and is a significant spokesperson for Stalin’s regime.
At the core of the film is Gareth Jones’ slipping away from the authorities during the train trip to Ukraine and, in scenes of shock and poverty and famine, the truth of what was happening in the Ukrainian winter, the devastating famine for which Stalin was responsible.
This is a rather long film, the filmmakers certainly wanting to make some devastating points about Stalin’s regime, the public image, the behind-the-scenes devastating realities. On his return to Wales, Jones had to make the decision whether he should publish articles on not (the Russians have taken Mobil businessmen hostage and threatening them if anti-Soviet material were printed).
And, one of the main reasons why we have not heard much about Gareth Jones is that on a journalistic mission to Africa, where there were Soviet authorities, he was killed.
James Norton, best known for Grantchester, is an effective young enthusiast as Gareth Jones. Peter Sarsgaard has both charming and sinister moments as Duranty. Later, an interesting character is introduced into the narrative, Eric Blair (Joseph Mawle), with quotations throughout from his novel, Animal Farm; he is better known as the novelist, George Orwell.
1. A 21st-century look back at the 1930s in Europe? Britain, Russia?
2. The title, Gareth Jones – audience knowledge of him, not? This film filling in gaps?
3. The director, her Polish background, working internationally, her perspectives on Europe, on World War II?
4. The London meetings, the cabinet, the contrast with Moscow, the streets, the hotel, the office of durability? The parties? The comparisons with Ukraine, the train, winter bleak, the dead in the streets, the forests, the village? In the contrast with Wales, home, the newspaper? The musical score?
5. The introduction to Gareth Jones, his age, Welsh background, University studies, Russian, his mother working in Ukraine, his speech to the cabinet, the bond with Lloyd George, the support of secretary, the Cabinet laughing at his ideas, his being fired? The decision to go to Russia? Application for visa, the discussions at the embassy? The train through Europe? The phone call to Klemp, news of his immediate death? The promise of the story? His arrival, the hotel, only for two nights in that hotel, his going to Durability and the discussions, meeting a dinner, the invitation to the party, his reaction, talking with Two Randy, naked? The decadence of the party? His decisions, talking to Ada, playing the recordings to avoid surveillance?
6. The meal with the Russian official, his changing the letter from Lloyd George, valued advisor? The train ride, with the rich man, the meals, getting off, getting onto the other train? The cold, the hunger, the bodies on the train? The town, picking up the bodies from the street? Going to the forests? The poverty of the corn crop? His being accused of being a spy, arrested, deported? The background of Stalin’s five-year plan, the progress and industry in Russia – and the covering up of the Ukraine famine?
7. Moscow, the authorities, Jones going to visit Duranty, his supporting Russia, denying any famine? Ada, her moving out? His being returned to the UK?
8. Industry, progress, the Mobil executives, the friendships, their being held to ransom? Jones and his decision about publication or not? The danger for the Mobil hostages? Duranty and his interventions on behalf of the Soviet Union, American recognition, trade deals? The later history of Duranty, his Pulitzer Prize, dying in 1975?
9. Jones, visiting Lloyd George again, Lloyd George’s letter, his return to Wales, at home, his father, working with the editor, the various jobs, his box of documents, the intervention of the police?
10. William Randolph Hearst, visiting Wales, Jones gatecrashing the dinner, talking with Hearst, persuading him, writing the article, proclaiming the truth?
11. Jones, his integrity, going on further missions – Russian guides, his being murdered?
12. The relevance of his story today?
