Red Joan is a historical drama which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2018.
The main character Joan Stanley, a citizen of the UK, worked as a spy for the Soviet Union during the 1940s and the 1950s.
Because of her job, Joan had access to secret reports about the construction of nuclear bombs.
She took photos of these reports and passed them on to her Soviet handlers.
She was clever or lucky or both. For many years she got away with it. Her illegal activities were not discovered by the British authorities until she was an old woman; too old to be prosecuted for what she had done.
Here is some basic information about this drama:
** Director: Trevor Nunn
** Writer: Lindsay Shapero
** Based on Jenny Rooney’s historical novel Red Joan (2013)
** Run time: ca 100 minutes
The cast includes the following:
The first group
** Judi Dench as Joan Stanley (old women)
** Sophie Cookson as Joan Stanley (young women)
** Nina Sosanya as Ms Hart
** Lawrence Spellman as Patrick Adams
The second group
** Tom Hughes as Leo Galich – a communist
** Ben Miles as Nick Stanley – a lawyer – Joan’s son
** Stephen Campbell Moore as Max Davis – a professor
** Tereza Srbova as Sonya - a student
This drama is not based on a true story. But according to an on-screen message, it is inspired by real events. What is the difference?
** A drama which is based on a true story will use real names and follow the real story as closely as possible. Some details may be changed, added or excluded, for different reasons, but in most cases only minor details. This type of drama aims to offer a biography of a real historical person. Historical truth is regarded as important.
** A drama which is inspired by real events will often use fictional names and the director may stray far from the true story. Many details are changed or added; not only minor details, but also major aspects. This type of drama aims to offer a captivating story. Historical truth is a secondary concern.
There are two timelines in this drama:
# 1. Joan is an old woman. She is around 80. The year is not given. But it seems to be 1998. If this is true, it follows that Joan was born in 1918.
I will call this timeline the present.
# 2. Joan is a young woman. In this timeline we follow Joan over three decades: the 1930s, the 1940s and the 1950s. Joan seems to be 20 in 1938.
I will call this timeline the past.
The story begins in the present (in 1998). Joan is an old woman who is doing ordinary chores in the garden and in the house. Suddenly, police officers arrive. Joan is arrested and charged with treason!
From this moment, Joan’s life and career is told in a series of flashbacks. The story switches back and forth between the past and the present.
I do not wish to spoil the viewing for anyone. Therefore, I am not going to reveal too much about what happens in this drama, but I have to mention a few details in order to explain and justify my rating.
What do reviewers say about this historical drama?
Here are the results of three review aggregators:
30 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the critics)
55 percent = Rotten Tomatoes (the audience)
64 percent = IMDb
45 percent = Meta (the critics)
48 percent = Meta (the audience)
On Amazon UK there are at the moment 4,100 ratings of this product, 860 with reviews.
The average rating is 4.3 stars which corresponds to a rating of 86 percent.
As you can see, the ratings are mixed. On Amazon the rating is good, but the other ratings are not so good.
When you look at Rotten Tomatoes, you can see that there is a clear gap between the professional critics and the general audience.
The verdict of the critics is very harsh (only 30 per cent), while the verdict of the audience is somewhat better (55 per cent). But both groups agree that this is not a great drama.
When you look at Meta, you can see that the critics and the audience are close to each other. And both groups offer a negative rating, less than 50 per cent.
Why are there so many negative reviews?
I think there are two reasons:
** The first reason is that the drama strays too far from the real events on which it is supposed to be based.
** The second reason is that the movie-makers seem to agree with Joan when she tries to justify her actions.
Who is the inspiration for the main character? And how far does the drama stray from the real historical facts? Here are some answers:
The drama is inspired by the life of Melita Norwood (1912-2005) who worked as a Soviet spy for more than three decades (1937-1972). Not only in the 1940s and the 1950s, but also in the 1930s.
Melita studied at a university, but she did not study at the famous Cambridge University and she never completed her education. She dropped out after one year.
Melita was not a scientist. She studied Latin and Logic. She did not understand the contents of the secret reports which she photographed.
Joan Stanley is a different person. She was born in 1918 and she went to the famous Cambridge University. She graduated as a scientist.
Joan does not work for the USSR in the 1930s. In fact, she refuses to accept the Soviet propaganda line at the time. She does not believe that the trials against the old Party members are real.
But when the US drops two nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945, she decides to work for the USSR. She begins to pass secret information to the USSR. She feels that the US should not have a monopoly on this weapon.
Melita is a Stalinist. Joan is not.
I suspect the movie-makers realized that they could not make the real Melita sympathetic. This is why they decided to change her character and give her a different name.
Joan is not a Stalinist; she is a humanist.
She is concerned about the survival of the human race.
She is against the bomb.
When we compare the two characters Melita and Joan, we discover that there is huge difference between them. But even if Joan is not a Stalinist, it is still hard to like her.
The actors play their roles well, especially Judi Dench and Sophie Cookson, but this fact cannot save this drama. In spite of some good acting, it cannot be regarded as successful.
This historical drama is fatally flawed and this is why it cannot get more than two stars (40 percent).
PS # 1. Melita was identified as a security risk in 1965. But no action was taken at that time, because Special Branch did not want to reveal its methods.
Melita was not unmasked as a spy until 1999, when she was 87. Because of her old age, it was decided not to prosecute her. She died six years later, in 2005, at the age of 93.
PS # 2. The following items are available online:
** Peter Bradshaw,
“Red Joan review: Judi Dench underused in brittle defector drama,”
The Guardian, 17 April 2019
(This review offers 2 of 5 stars = 40 per cent)
** Freddie Lynne,
“Red Joan: The truth behind Joan Stanley and the Cambridge spies,”
Cambridgeshire, 18 April 2019
** Fred Mazelis,
“Red Joan: A British spy story skirts some issues,”
World Socialist Website, 6 May 2019
Jo-Anne Rowney,
“Red Joan author on why she changed the true story for Judy Dench movie,”
Radio Times, 28 August 2019
*****
Red Joan
A historical drama
(2019)
*****
Red Joan
A historical novel
by Jennie Rooney
(2013)
*****
Melita Norwood
(1912-2005)
She was a Soviet spy for many years
(1937-1972)
*****
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