INTERVIEW: Agnieszka Holland’s new thriller speaks to the power of journalism
Photo: Agnieszka Holland directs James Norton in Mr. Jones. Photo courtesy of Robert Palka / Provided by KWPR with permission.
Agnieszka Holland, the Oscar-nominated writer-director of Europa Europa and other important films, has turned her directorial eye to a historical tale set in the years leading up to World War II. This time, she looks at the story of Gareth Jones (played by Grantchester’s James Norton), a journalist who uncovers incriminating information about Joseph Stalin’s propaganda machine in the Soviet Union amidst the rise to power of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Particularly, he learns of the Holodomor, Stalin’s man-made famine in Ukraine, according to press notes.
The historical thriller, distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films, is now available on digital platforms (with on demand coming July 3). For the project, Holland worked with screenwriter Andrea Chalupa, and, in addition to Norton, she directed a talented cast: Vanessa Kirby, Peter Sarsgaard and Joseph Mawle.
“My first reaction when [Chalupa] contacted me and told that she’s sending me the script about the Holodomor, about the Ukrainian famine, I said, ‘Well, no, please not — because most of the scripts I am receiving after making three Holocaust movies are about the terrible stories and terrible crimes against humanity,'” Holland said in a recent phone interview. “I was thinking that I would read like 15 pages and that I would say, ‘Sorry,’ but when I started to read it, it took me. I was unable to put it down, and somehow quite quickly I realized there is a story which needs to be told not only because the Communist crimes are so unknown and so unjustly forgiven and forgotten, but also because the story of this young journalist who tries to discover and to report the truth, which is impossible because it breaks all political and ideological agendas. And the politicians don’t want to hear about it.”
Jones’ journalism depicted in the movie proves to be unpopular. Besides the politicians who worry about the famine news getting out to the great populace, there’s also the issue of the greater populace not being terribly interested in a story that feels worlds away.
“So this story is so relevant with our times that somehow it asks the same questions I’m asking myself today,” the director said. “Andrea wrote the script in a very simple, honest and intelligent way. … She is a political journalist herself, and the Ukraine and famine is the story of her family. It was this important aspect of the personal experience.”
The story of Jones and his journalistic work actually informed and inspired George Orwell with the writing of his allegorical novel Animal Farm, a must-read text for many high school students and lovers of literature. For Holland, this tale of intrepid journalism speaks to 2020 and the unique issues plaguing the world today.
“I admire journalism, exactly this kind of journalism — honest, courageous, objective investigative journalism which is checking facts and reporting them, and doesn’t follow any kind of agenda,” Holland said. “I think in the polarized world we are living in, where practically all media are serving one or another political agenda or one or another side, to have the people who you can trust when they are reporting that they are reporting the facts and not the interpretation of the fake news, it is I think crucial for the survival of the democracy. And you can see it in the United States. You can see it in Great Britain. You can see it in Poland of today, in many, many countries where suddenly the press, or the media altogether, became so easy to manipulate and so easy to buy. So it is a tribute to the real journalism and a warning what happens if we don’t have any.”
Holland welcomed the addition of the Orwellian inspiration to Chalupa’s script for Mr. Jones. The filmmaker believes this added literary element provides the narrative a necessary metaphorical dimension.
“We are not sure if they met, but it is very possible that they did because they were a similar age living in the same literary circles of London, having the same interest and same literary agent,” Holland said of Jones and Orwell. “And Animal Farm was inspired probably by the Gareth Jones’ report from Ukraine, so I found it’s incredible to have Orwell as a character. And I like the fact that through his eyes and his reaction, we can see how it was difficult for the western progressive intellectuals of the time to accept that Stalin maybe is not this wise man who is building up the bright future for the humanity.”
Holland also said that Chalupa had a family member who was a Holodomor survivor, and at one time, he found himself with another Ukrainian soldier in a camp in Germany during WWII. At the end of the war, they apparently didn’t want to come back to the Soviet Union because the future was so gloomy for the nation.
“So they were waiting to emigrate to America, to Canada, to other places, and one day somebody gave them a book, which was released not long time before,” she said. “And it was George Orwell’s Animal Farm, and they read it. And they found it’s their story, that Orwell tells exactly what they went through, that it is exactly their experience. They had been so moved and so shocked by the story that they immediately translated the book to the Ukrainain language. … So the first foreign edition of George Orwell was in the Ukrainian language.”
Mr. Jones, which was filmed in Ukraine, Poland and Scotland, had a difficult shoot with limited money available, but Holland, who has created many historical dramas, has developed a keen sense of what it takes to finish an expansive project like this thriller. Helping her along the way were the talented cast members.
“I love those actors,” she said. “James is the most talented and at the same time honest and very discreet … very loyal and hard-working, and Peter is probably one of the most intelligent actors I was working with. And Vanessa is a force of life and also very, very smart, so they’ve been all very involved in the discussion about the script. They did great research work, so it was a real pleasure to create something with them.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Mr. Jones, directed by Agnieszka Holland, is now available on digital release. It will be available on VOD on July 3. Click here for more information.
Revised
Thank you to the reader who emailed in about this story. A revised edition of the article can be found above. This revised edition makes it clear that “Mr. Jones” is a pre-WWII thriller, taking place in the years leading up to WWII.