Red Joan,
based on the novel by Jennie Rooney
8.4 out of
10
Some critics
have been very disappointed in this motion picture, which The Guardian has
rated with just 40 out of 100, the score has The New York Times, and Variety
has destroyed, with an incredible 20 out of 100.
Nevertheless
– or maybe because of those terrible ratings – this viewer has been pleased to
watch Red Joan, if not overwhelmed and flabbergasted by the thriller.
One rule of
happiness recommends that one lowers one’s expectations and in the case of the
story it might have done the trick, for aware of the opinion that others had of
the movie, the undersigned anticipated some terrible feature.
Yes, it is true
that the film does not bring new perspectives and there may be a feeling of déjà
vu.
However, what
productions manage to awe the spectator and have her or him think they have
never seen anything like that before.
Especially when
the subject is a spy story and there is nothing like the character of James
Bond or Jason Bourne to dazzle and mesmerize audiences – characters that are
anyway unbelievable.
The typical
spy is nothing like 007, he has to melt into a crowd and have nothing special
about him, no martinis, and fancy tuxedos and under no circumstances Aston
Martins or glamorous brands.
The
legendary Dame Judy Dench portrays Joan Stanley at the moment when she is caught
by the authorities, early on in the narrative, and by the promising Sophie
Cookson as a young woman.
She seems
to have very few, if any regrets, in her old age, about her activity, which she
does not perceive as spying or betraying her country.
The anti-heroine
agrees that she has deceived her family and friends, but on the matter of working
against her country, she has other views.
She has had
leftish inclinations as a young woman and she appears to have always
sympathized with the Soviets and the communists – which makes those who have
lived in regimes imposed by Stalin and his troops see her as the Absolute Evil –
including the under signed, who still ‘enjoys ‘the benefits of that hateful
system.
Leo Galich is
another important factor, for what Red Joan lacked in conviction, enthusiasm for
the Soviet cause, this abject individual brought with him – this is subjective,
but nobody born in the occupied East can say that they love the Soviets, unless
of course we mean apparatchiks, collaborators, nomenclature and other such
worms.
When Joan Stanley
works with Max Davis aka the excellent Stephen Campbell Moore, she would get
access to secrets that represent the most important information that the
communists would want.
Evidently,
there is some complexity to an otherwise simple issue:
Is cooperating
with the Soviets, especially when they were allies of the West such a ghastly proposition?
If you want
my answer, then it is a clear, loud yes!
Nevertheless,
the circumstances are indeed a little bit more complicated, for the Russians
had taken a heavy loss in the war against Nazis – with whom they initially
loved to cooperate and divide Poland, Romania and whatever else would be available.
Moreover, Red
Joan has another intellectual, apparently logical reason for her choices that seems
to make sense for some:
If the
Soviets have the tremendous nuclear bomb, then the two sides would avoid
confronting each other, with the prospect of mutual annihilation and therefore
peace would be assured.
Really?
What makes
this preposterous, pathetic, despicable stand so much more disgusting is the
fact that this woman was not some simple, uneducated individual who had very
little imagination, no training, lacked the intelligence to comprehend and see
through the propaganda.
On the
contrary, this was a brilliant mind, capable of creativity, ingenuity, emotional
and classic intelligence, cunning, used to smuggle the most important data in
the world, the secret of making the nuclear bomb.
If not otherworldly,
Red Joan is still a perfectly enjoyable film, no matter what the feelings of
the viewer are and what the other critics say J
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