MARCH 7 2020 LISTENER 57
the workers’ paradise promised by the
October Revolution had really come to
fruition. What he found instead, as vet-
eran Polish director Agnieszka Holland’s
film documents with serious-minded
and sensitive rigour, was Stalin’s geno-
cidal famine waged on the peasantry of
Ukraine, what is today called Holodomor:
literally, “hunger extermination”.
Mr Jones is not a grand tragedy in the
manner of David Lean, choking the
horror with the fumes of melodrama.
Rather, Holland (In Darkness) tells the
small story of Jones’ chilly trek into the
maw: blasted empty crop fields, shuffling
ragbound peasants, a shocking encounter
with several children who reveal – horrify-
ingly – how they have survived.
In fact, the film isn’t really concerned
with terror-famine itself and explaining
its causes and consequences. Rather, it
interrogates how we might react to the
presence of horror and how we make
ourselves complicit by silence. For Jones,
admirably performed by James Norton,
the burden of knowing the truth – and
having endured it – carries a responsibility
to inform the world. He is the purest of
hearts, indignant and untainted.
Compare Jones with his foil Walter
Duranty, the New York Times’ renowned
Moscow correspondent, a Stalin apologist
played by Peter Sarsgaard. It was Duranty,
whose coverage denied the famine, who
coined the hideous aphorism “you can’t
make an omelette without breaking eggs”.
In a way, this is an indictment of the
courtier press: those whose prestige and
fame come from their access, not their
talent or moral clarity.
Mr Jones also contains a very rare thing:
a screen version of George Orwell. While
there’s no real evidence to suggest they
met, and the film overeggs the suggestion
a character in Animal Farm was named in
honour of Jones, it’s nonetheless a lovely
portrayal by Joseph Mawle.
In contrast to his popular reputation as
a rangy, hard-headed proletarian, Orwell
is played as sweetly shy and achingly anx-
ious. “Are you saying there’s no hope?”
he begs of Jones when the full awfulness
of the Holodomor is revealed. There may
be no hope, but there is a duty – a duty
honoured by this important film – to tell
the truth when it matters most.
IN CINEMAS NOW
James RobinsJones encounters
ragbound peasants and
has a shocking encounter
with several children who
reveal – horrifyingly –
how they have survived.
...?” and “how could he ...?” by paint-
ing Orna’s predicament in a depressingly
realistic way, with a script that is taut,
well-written and at times gruelling.
Critically, the universally strong perfor-
mances lend weight to the story’s realism.
As Orna’s boss, Benny, Menashe Noy
is a wolf in sheep’s clothing; his polite
“mind if I make a comment?” about her
hairstyle and the “professional” reasons
he proposes she wear a skirt are illustra-
tive of Benny’s tricksy and ultimately
controlling MO. Ben-Shlush is wonderful
as the self-contained Orna, whose inner
strength is gradually chipped away after
each compromising situation.
An excellent portrait of a sickeningly
common and perpetually harrowing issue,
Working Woman is completely compel-
ling as it draws towards an unpredictable
conclusion.
IN CINEMAS NOW
Sarah WattCOME TO DADDY
directed by Ant TimpsonN
ew Zealand film festival program-
ming provocateur Ant Timpson
has finally taken up the mantle
and directed his own feature, written by
Toby Harvard from Timpson’s original
idea. And it’s just as weird, wild and
entertaining as expected.
LA-based DJ Norval (a superlative
Elijah Wood, a long way from Hobbiton)
turns up on the backwoods doorstep
of his 25-year estranged father, seeking
at least an understanding of why his
dad walked out all those years ago. But
their already rocky reunion soon goes
spectacularly badly.
The less you know of the plot the
better, but the key selling points of the
frequently funny and queasily titled
Come to Daddy are the film’s enjoyable
performances, including The Portrait of
a Lady’s Martin Donovan and our own
Madeleine Sami, delightfully deadpan
as Gladys the local coroner. But Wood’s
charismatic kookiness centres the story,
as monk-haired, mustachioed Norval
finds himself thrown from one shock-
ing predicament to the next. There are
plenty of outrageous set-pieces of blood-
splattering cringe, interspersed with
truthfully acted scenes of real pathos.
It’s all set to a gorgeous score by local
soundtrack supremo Karl Steven, who
evokes the classic movie music of Lalo
Schifrin and Bernard Herrmann.
Timpson’s love of genre also plays
a familiar tune, and it’s his ability to
surprise – as well as gross out – his
audience that makes Come to Daddy an
agreeably stomach-churning pleasure.IN CINEMAS NOW
Sarah WattFilms are rated out of 5:
(abysmal) to (amazing)SHORT TAKE
Orna (Liron Ben-Shlush) and
Benny (Menashe Noy) face off.