MR. JONES (2019)

Genre: Drama/Thriller
Director: Agnieszka Holland 
Cast: James Norton, Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard, Joseph Mawle, Kenneth Cranham, Celyn Jones, Krzysztof Pieczynski, Beata Pozniak
Runtime: 1 hr 59 mins
Rating: M18
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 13 July 2020

Synopsis: Academy Award® nominee Agnieszka Holland (Europa Europa, Spoor, In Darkness) brings to the screen the extraordinary untold story of Gareth Jones, an ambitious young Welsh journalist who travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933 and uncovered the appalling truth behind the Soviet “utopia” and Stalin’s regime. Initially a regular news investigation, Jones’ quest quickly turned into a life-or-death journey… helping inspire George Orwell’s famous allegory Animal Farm.

Movie Review:

If you haven’t yet heard of the Holodomor, we urge you to Google it. While much has been said about Adolf Hitler, far less has been told about Josef Stalin’s horrific misdeed in engineering a famine which starved millions in Ukraine by taking their grain to sell abroad to stuff Soviet coffers. That was how Stalin managed to achieve economic expansion even amidst global recession in the early 1930s, which earned the admiration of Western nations – notably, that of former British prime minister David Lloyd George and his cabinet ministers.

‘Mr Jones’ is the real-life story of foreign advisor-turned-journalist Gareth Jones (James Norton), who had journeyed to Moscow in a bid to interview Stalin and find the truth behind the Soviet Union’s purported economic vitality. There, he senses the reality may be far less rosy than what the world believes, and eventually decides to make a daring escape to Ukraine, where he encounters the mass starvation that had been hidden from the global community. Jones’ expose of Soviet atrocities would pit him against the New York Times’ Pulitzer Prize winning bureau chief Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), but more significantly, cost him his life before the age of 30.

There is a compelling tale to tell here, but it takes about an hour before the film finds its focus. Oh yes, the first half is somewhat wasted in scattershot fashion, beginning with an introduction by English author Eric Blair (better known as George Orwell) writing his allegorical novella ‘Animal Farm’ and then later on with sequences of Jones’ encounter with Russian bureaucracy; in particular, while the latter introduces us to the duplicitous Duranty, it also serves up an unnecessary distraction in the form of circumspect British journalist Ada Brooks (Vanessa Kirby), whose personal and professional relationship with Jones never builds to anything substantive.

Thankfully, director Agnieszka Holland finds her footing once Jones gets to Ukraine. Holland, who has handled such Oscar-nominated wartime dramas as ‘Europa, Europa’ and ‘In Darkness’, portrays the bleakness of the brutality starkly – among the standout scenes include one where Jones is surrounded by five children singing about their loyalty to Stalin amidst their cold and hunger, before robbing Jones of what food he had brought along for the trip; another has Jones quelling his hunger with tree bark, which is what most of the Ukrainians had for food; and another sees Jones repulsing in horror over the supper he had shared with a family of three children. It is haunting all right, and given a searing yet sobering showing by Holland.

As the eponymous character, Newton brings his A-game to the film, giving the role generous passionate commitment. His character pretty much carries the movie from start to finish, and it is testament to his muscular performance that we remain engaged and invested throughout. Sarsgaard is at his slithery best as Duranty, but Kirby is otherwise wasted in a role that is fictional in the first place and too thinly written to be of any consequence. That is among one of the flaws of first-time writer Andrea Chalupa’s script, whose best intentions of bringing her grandfather’s ordeal to the screen is somewhat dulled by a distracted narrative.

Still, the potency of Jones’ struggle for the truth as well as the very horror of the Holomodor itself makes this a worthwhile film. The contemporary relevance in how both an autocracy and the ‘fake news’ media aimed to quash a fearless crusader’s account only makes it even more resonant, reinforcing the emotional impact of a flawed but nonetheless powerful biopic. There is a Lean-ian sweep to the way it uses images than dialogue to convey meaning, and ‘Mr Jones’ is a poignant witness of the brutality that millions of Ukrainians were forced to live through.

Movie Rating:

(Despite a somewhat unfocused narrative in the first hour, 'Mr Jones' rides a compelling real-life story to deliver a poignant biopic of its titular character, as well as bear searing witness to the Holomodor)

Review by Gabriel Chong