Red Joan purports to tell the story of Melita Norwood, a Communist who handed British secrets over to the Russians.
Dame Judi Dench is the star, but she doesn't have a great deal to do since the story is told in flashback. The workhorse role is Sophie Cookson as the young Joan.
Joan is depicted as a smart woman working at an atomic research facility. She falls in love with a young man (Tom Galich). Though she continues to refuse his requests, she gradually gives in and hands the atom bomb plans over to the Russians.
As an elderly woman, she is arrested. It is then she tels her story to authorities and has a confrontation with her son.
In real life, the character was not seduced into Communism by love; she was a card-carrying Communist from the beginning and never had the boyfriend depicted. Nor was she smart enough to really know the ins and outs of the bomb. Here she is depicted as a talented scientist.
The Dench character insists that she was trying to help England, thinking that if both sides had the bomb, neither one would use it.
Melita Norwood stated: "I did what I did, not to make money, but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service."
While she said she did not generally "agree with spying against one's country", she had hoped her actions would help "Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany".
Dench is always wonderful. All of the acting is on a very high level. The real story of Melita Norwood is interesting. Hopefully, the good thing about this type of film is it encourages people to read the real story.
Dame Judi Dench is the star, but she doesn't have a great deal to do since the story is told in flashback. The workhorse role is Sophie Cookson as the young Joan.
Joan is depicted as a smart woman working at an atomic research facility. She falls in love with a young man (Tom Galich). Though she continues to refuse his requests, she gradually gives in and hands the atom bomb plans over to the Russians.
As an elderly woman, she is arrested. It is then she tels her story to authorities and has a confrontation with her son.
In real life, the character was not seduced into Communism by love; she was a card-carrying Communist from the beginning and never had the boyfriend depicted. Nor was she smart enough to really know the ins and outs of the bomb. Here she is depicted as a talented scientist.
The Dench character insists that she was trying to help England, thinking that if both sides had the bomb, neither one would use it.
Melita Norwood stated: "I did what I did, not to make money, but to help prevent the defeat of a new system which had, at great cost, given ordinary people food and fares which they could afford, a good education and a health service."
While she said she did not generally "agree with spying against one's country", she had hoped her actions would help "Russia to keep abreast of Britain, America and Germany".
Dench is always wonderful. All of the acting is on a very high level. The real story of Melita Norwood is interesting. Hopefully, the good thing about this type of film is it encourages people to read the real story.