In 1933, Welsh journalist Gareth Jones travels to Ukraine, where he experiences the horrors of a famine. Everywhere he goes he meets henchmen of the Soviet secret service who are determined to prevent news about the catastrophe from getting out. Stalin’s forced collectivisation of agriculture has resulted in misery and ruin—the policy is tantamount to mass murder.
A taut and stark thriller, one part espionage, one part survival, this is an extremely powerful true story, and one that has generally slipped under the radar. We are lucky that someone as talented as Agnieszka Holland took the helm of 'Mr Jones'.
Read Jake's full article... https://www.maketheswitch.com.au/article/review-mr-jones-a-chilling-true-story
James Norton delivers really quite well here as the journalist who stumbles upon and exposes one of the worst atrocities of Stalin's Soviet regime. Deep amidst the poverty-stricken Steppe, he gradually becomes aware that the dissolution of the traditional small-holding style of family farm in favour of the creation of potentially more yielding grand scale operations is failing - and failing badly. Needless to say, this isn't news that the authorities wish to be conveyed to the wider world, and so his exploration becomes steadily more perilous. Fortunately, he has a degree of diplomatic status and he does try to be fair with his reporting. On the face of it, the plan had merits - greater space to exploit, centralised harvesting, centralised ...