Film review: Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Film review Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Published: November 27, 2011

Filmed in London, Budapest and Istanbul, this movie is based on the 1974 book of the same name by John le Carre. The film premiered at the 2011 Venice International Film Festival, and condenses a highly complex book to its bare essentials, and gives his novel a broodingly distinctive stamp.

The film is set in London in the early 1970s. A Cold War spy, George Smiley (Gary Oldman), who has been disgraced as a spy, is rehired and pressured to help uncover a Russian double-agent working inside the British Intelligence in a unit known as the “Circus”.

The Circus is at the highest level of the British Secret Intelligent Service, and a mole has been in its ranks for years. At the time, the Circus was headed by Control (John Hurt), and Smiley has been given the job of uncovering the traitor.

In the opening moments of the film, a British agent (Mark Strong), sent by Control, is shot and captured during a mission to Hungary. The captured spy is later repatriated, and Control is stood down and replaced, but what happens indicates that someone on the inside is feeding intelligence to the Soviets. We don’t know whether it is Tinker (Toby Jones), Tailor (Colin Firth), or Soldier (Ciaran Hinds), or maybe Smiley himself. All of them are vulnerable enough to make spying for the other side a very real possibility.

This is a cool, measured British production with a wonderful cast. It is not a fast-paced film that has moments of great excitement. There are no chase sequences, and it reserves special moments for the use of guns. Violent killings occur in high impact scenes, and they are sudden. Gary Oldman is exceptional as Smiley, who negotiates the dark underworld of the secret intelligence service. He and the other actors in the movie underplay their roles, highlighting the film’s measured pace.

Nothing in the plot is very easy to follow, and this is a demanding film for the viewer with its multiple twists and turns. However, it is an absorbing movie that captures perfectly the emotional coldness of Cold War espionage.

Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Toby Jones, Mark Strong, and Ciaran Hinds. Directed by Tomas Alfredson. Rated MA 15+. Restricted. (Strong violence). 128 min.


CathNews