So in case you missed it, the 1930s was not a terrific time for an average human to be Germany or Russia. We Americans generally tend to focus on the rise of Hitler in 1930s Germany while glossing over the part where Joseph Stalin killed a slew of his own people for political reasons and a slew more because he was just an asshole. BTW, for these purposes, “slew” > 1 million. The genocide of the USSR played the propaganda game a little better than the Nazis, which is why films like Mr. Jones exist.
Upcoming journalist Gareth Jones (James Norton) got some attention for an interview with Adolf Hitler in 1933. He saw what others missed – that Hitler was dangerous and had been taking advantage of Germany’s wounded ego. A little high on his own press, Mr. Jones decided the next big target was Joseph Stalin. The USSR was suddenly industry-crazy while it appeared to the West that their economy was shrinking. Hence, Gareth Jones started with one simple question: where was Stalin getting the money?
These are questions you don’t ask unless you’re prepared to handle the answer.
Of course, Soviet Russia was not-at-all willing to grant Mr. Jones the answer. *Presto* come see the magic of propaganda – the USSR appeared as if it wanted nothing other than to accommodate Mr. Jones: here’s a visa, here’s a schedule, here’s some borscht … but when it came right down to it, Soviet Russia artificially cut Jones’ trip short, limited his opportunities to see anything, and pressured him to report the party line rather than the truth. Imagine if you went to New York City by plane and the cops never let you out of LaGuardia; you might have a very different idea of what New York had to offer.
This is one of those tales where ugly gets uglier. The film is shot in bleak 30s-vision when nobody ever smiled (even those having a good time) and the world looked like it was in b&w even when it was in color. In scenes that are both too long and too short, Mr. Jones finally makes his way to Ukraine, which had a famine in 1932-33. I believe the truth of everything Mr. Jones found there, except the timeline. Check it out: he uncovered all the atrocities of Stalinism in one-afternoon! Gosh, man, if you hurry, you can catch a train and make it back to Moscow in time for Amos ‘n’ Andy.
Mr. Jones would have been a lovely exposé in 1939. Today? Less. While most of my countrymen are sadly ignorant of European history and the true differences between communism and whatever Joseph Stalin
presided over, very few of the ignorant are going to watch this and the ones who are not won’t like what they see – Mr. Jones is just ugly enough to be off-putting, but also just aloof enough so that it’s hard to draw modern comparisons. The film seemed mostly interested in the plight of Gareth Jones himself and namedropping George Orwell. The potential focal point of the film –the suffering of the Russian people- takes a backseat so that we can know whether or not Gareth meets his artificial deadline.
Stalin was a monster. Sometimes history overlooks him because Hitler was a slightly more effective monster. Yet Stalin was an evil and terrible man and also responsible for millions of deaths. The ugliness and cruelty that came out of Stalinist Russia –as much as any other factor- spurred the anti-communist behavior in the US. Was that fair? After all, we’re frequently fond of saying Stalinist Russia couldn’t happen here anyway, right? I mean, think of what it would take – cold, snow-filled winters, desperate citizens without any ability for lateral movement for lack of savings. Most importantly, you would have to have an extreme leader or, say, a president, who is completely indifferent to human suffering, gleefully withholds resources from his own people for political reasons, and is enabled by slimy sycophants. I can’t even imagine such a man, can you?
Euro-history is replete with THE MAN
Dunno anyone who remains Stalin’s fan
But I need to know more
How he made Russia poor
It’s all in my five-year plan
Rated R, 119 Minutes
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Writer: Andrea Chalupa
Genre: Meanwhile, in Russia…
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: The survivors of Ukraine
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Stalinists
