Red Joan

8,5/10

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Critics blast this film as a missed opportunity. I heartily disagree, spy films do not all have to be fast paced intrigue. This film is a slow burn and thoughtful character study on the motivations of a woman in extraordinary positions.

I had a hard time with this because it tried to justify treason. Judi Dench, who I normally love just showed up for a paycheck. Sophie Cookson I thought did above average, but I personally could not get through the main point, and that is, sometime treason is ok, if you heart is in the right place.

While watching the film, my feelings toward it was like a pendulum, swinging from 'This is a well crafted film' to 'this is nothing more than left wing propaganda'. My research after the film allowed me to settle for the latter. I'll start with the positives. For most part, you can't fault the performances, especially from our two Joans - Cookson is wonderful and Dench reliably delivers. It was evocative of the planned back story for her M in Skyfall before it was shelved in favour of the final product, but I digress. Red Joan is structurally sound. The narrative evolves at a beautiful pace and never did it lag. I believed the character and story development (except perhaps the actions of one male character toward the end). The technical aspects were beautiful too - the cinematography, the music and art direction all very palatable. Which is why it's so disappointing that the politics bogs this down to glossy revisionist propaganda. The sell is that the Cold War hinged on this one woman's decision to pass atomic research over to the Russians in the hopes it will deter the superpowers from ever claiming lives, and older Joan claims that WWIII was averted because of her actions. A bit of a stretch, but when the film opens with 'inspired by a true story', you believe the basic plot points are what you get. The closing moments in the film highlight that Joan didn't exist, and in fact it was a Melita Norwood who passed such research to the Russians. She was a staunch communist who wholeheartedly believed in the ideology that claimed millions more lives than Hitler. In turn, the film amps up the dissonance Joan has between East vs West, which creates a much more sympathetic character, but glosses over the genocidal regime in Russia. Instead, the film focuses on an anti-US rhetoric and glamourises left wing ideology. Given how Joan takes refuge in Australia, one can interpret her actions are naive mistakes from a girl who was swept away by love, which would be a much easier pill to swallow. However, given the film ends on the brief information surrounding Melita's story, it strongly suggests a desire to sensationalise Melita's life and allegiance to Moscow, which is far from heroic and needn't be celebrated. Explored, perhaps from a different point of view, but certainly not honoured.

This could have easily be a big + spy story. One of those stories that survive the times because the writers dig behind the veils of historic facts, and make essential values of human existance see the light of day. That value here is that one human can break through the simplicfied truths of time-bound consciousness, the illusions of wrong and right, dares to think his own moral mind and make a decision that serves humanity on a deeper level of evolution. It shows as a premise that is strongly tied to the story but not convincingly develloped. What is left is a skilled and entertaining movie, not a timeless one.

The film as mentioned was extremely interesting but failed to ever really leave 2nd gear the performances was fine and I wasn't bored but it just felt like it could have had another level to it and could really have exploded into action towards the end but continued to plod on at a mediocre pace. Reasonable but nothing special.

Dame Judi Dench stars as Joan Stanley who is exposed as a KGB Russian Spy long after retirement. The Film opens when she is arrested at her home then taken for interrogation. While being interrogated, Joan Flashes back to the past and that is what drives the Film. Sophie Cookson plays Joan during her early years as a Physics student at Cambridge University and it is here where she is recruited by the KGB and a Soviet supported politically radical friend Leo played by Tom Hughes. Judy Dench is actually only in a handful of the scenes but really delivers at key moments in the Movie and so do her fellow Cast Mates. As the Legal Battle ensues, the Flash backs intensify. Based loosely on a True Story I felt the Storyline was very believable and Builds and Finishes Strong. Well done Production. Top Notch Actors

Complete nonsense, this film portrays Joan as some sweet, innocent little girl devoid of any responsibility. The truth is she was one of the worst traitors in British history and knew exactly what she was doing. Her lies and betrayal could have lead to the obliteration of her countrymen, her friends and her family. The director has completely falsified the truth of the matter (ironically much like a soviet propaganda film). Joan did not attend Cambridge University, she attended Southampton for a year and then dropped out. She was not a physicist but a clerk in a research department. She approached the communists, not the other way round as portrait wrongly in the film.

What a drag. Very minimal and boring story. Totally unengaging characters. Judy Stench was well, just Judy Stench. Couldn't have cared less and really weak ending. Wasted my hard earned money.