Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Mr. Jones’ On Hulu, A Harrowing Stalin-Era Political Thriller That Feels Eerily Timely

World War II is one of the great period drama subjects; there are classics like The Longest Day, Schindler’s List, and The Dirty Dozen, and more contemporary titles like Dunkirk, Darkest Hour, and A Hidden Life. Mr. Jones, now streaming on Hulu, takes a bit of a different approach, focusing on an under-discussed period of history. Set in 1933, the political thriller follows Gareth Jones, a Welsh journalist who travels to Russia in the hopes of interviewing Stalin and ends up unearthing a much bigger story. Starring James Norton (Little Women), Vanessa Kirby (Mission: Impossible, The Crown), and Peter Sarsgaard, Mr. Jones easily earns its place among some of the great period dramas.

MR. JONES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: It’s 1933, and ambitious young Welsh journalist Gareth Jones (James Norton) has just interviewed Adolf Hitler. He tries to share his worries about Hitler and Goebbels with a group of high-ranking men from British government, but they essentially laugh him out of the room. Soon after, thanks to his connections to former prime minister David Lloyd George, Jones heads to Moscow with the hopes of interviewing Stalin. It doesn’t take long for the monstrous tragedy occurring in the Soviet Union to reveal itself; shortly after his arrival, Jones learns that his friend Paul Kleb, who desperately wanted to share a story he was working on, has been murdered. Walter Duranty (Peter Sarsgaard), the New York Times Moscow bureau chief (and a Stalin defender) tells Jones it was simply a robbery, but it’s obvious there is something bigger going on. Foreign journalists are confined to Moscow, but when Jones – with the help of fellow journalist Ada Brooks (Vanessa Kirby) – begins to unearth the truth about what their friend Paul was working on, he realizes he has to find a way to get to Ukraine.

Once Jones makes it out of the city, he discovers things are more terrible than he could have ever imagined. He witnesses empty village after empty village, and a man on the train says he’ll sell his coat to Jones for some bread. Millions of people in Ukraine starve as Russia drains the country of its grain and resources, leaving Ukrainians to eat tree bark and whatever scraps they could find – including human corpses. Jones, determined to get the story out, finds his life threatened by the Soviets and his reputation threatened by Duranty and the press. Mr. Jones tells the incredible true story of a young man willing to sacrifice everything in pursuit of the truth.

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Mr. Jones definitely feels in line with other great period dramas like Bridge of Spies and Darkest Hour at times, but it also will please lovers of a good journalism flick like Spotlight, All the President’s Men, or The Post.

Performance Worth Watching: Vanessa Kirby, who is already a star on the rise, may be a tad underutilized here, but she steals her scenes. Kirby has the allure of an Old Hollywood film star, a dazzling screen presence with a twinkle in her eye. As British journalist Ada Brooks, she’s both guarded and big-hearted, realistic about the state of the world and what it means to chase down this story. Her time on screen may be limited, but Kirby is a big part of why Mr. Jones works as well as it does.

Memorable Dialogue: There is a lot of really resonant and beautiful dialogue in Mr. Jones, but I had to pause to jot down the following exchange between Jones and Duranty about Hitler:

“Lots of people say that he’s deranged.”

“What is deranged in a deranged world, hm?”

Sex and Skin: There is a party full of debauchery and some surprising Peter Sarsgaard butt, but Mr. Jones has too many other important things to cover to focus on sexy stuff.

Our Take: Mr. Jones is a harrowing history lesson, a breathtaking drama that shines a light on one of humanity’s darkest periods. The world of Mr. Jones is a cold, bleak one, and rightfully so; directed by Agnieszka Holland and written by Andrea Chalupa, the period drama is the kind of film that sticks with you, a dramatization of a historical period so horrifying it’s shocking it hasn’t been discussed more. Gareth Jones is an unconventional hero, not the gruff, dogged reporter we’ve come to expect from these kinds of tales. Norton turns in a stunning performance as the quietly courageous hero in question, making himself the perfect audience surrogate. Despite Norton’s beautiful performance, however, Mr. Jones isn’t interested in becoming too biopic-y; instead, it focuses on making clear the scale of this genocide, the utter horror of the Holodomor and Stalin’s role in the death of millions of people. And it does that – and then some.

By the time Jones begins to trek through the deep Ukrainian snow and witnesses the state of things, Mr. Jones begins to feel like a horror movie. This is what sets it apart from so many other period thrillers or journalism flicks about getting the story out; here, we spend a lot of time in the hell these innocent people have been forced into, and many minutes pass without any dialogue whatsoever. The images speak for themselves. Cinematographer Tomasz Naumiuk creates a truly bleak nightmare-scape, and the palette almost seems to desaturate to black-and-white at times, placing emphasis on the occasional pop of color from a piece of fruit or other object. These visual choices chillingly capture the stark hopelessness of these atrocities, and why it is so crucial for Jones to make sure this story is told.

In Mr. Jones, the villains are not just the actual perpetrators of these heinous crimes; they are the complicit people, the propaganda spreaders. The circulation of “fake news” in the film is nauseatingly resonant, and so much of the commentary rings true, even today. I kept returning to a line from early in the film spoken as Jones’ concerns about Hitler are dismissed: “Herr Heitler will soon learn that there’s a great deal of difference between holding a rally and running a country.” Sound familiar? I certainly thought so. Mr. Jones knows that history is often doomed to repeat itself, and that even the most horrifying of these evils are not as far out of the realm of possibility as we think they are. It’s a strong aspect of the film’s storytelling, one that helps to overshadow the script’s weaker moments; the framing device of George Orwell writing Animal Farm feels unnecessary. It takes up space in the film that otherwise may have been spent creating a little more momentum for Jones’ journey. Despite these issues, it still works. It’s undeniably powerful, and largely devoid of the common fictionalized, unrealistic moments usually woven into these stories to make them hit a little harder dramatically. Sure, the script could have been tighter, but the film’s flaws begin to fade away when you look at it as a whole.

Even with its occasional clunky spots, Mr. Jones is a film that knows what it is and what it’s trying to say – and it’s not afraid to say it. It’s sickening to think that this is the first time many of us will have even heard of the Holodomor, but a tribute to the power of Holland’s storytelling that the film is able to sear these events into the mind with such ease. Mr. Jones is a film quietly seething with rage, a piece of art focused on exposing a devastatingly underreported crime against humanity. It may not be the easiest watch, but it feels like an absolutely necessary one.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Mr. Jones feels overly long at points, but it’s an effective and harrowing period drama, one that you may struggle to shake off for some time.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for ruining punchlines and harboring dad-aged celebrity crushes. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Stream Mr. Jones on Hulu