397. A Call To Spy; movie review

 

 

A CALL TO SPY

Cert 12A

124 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate violence, threat, disturbing images, language

I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder but this year I seem to be more at odds than ever with most movie critics.

While I have been dismayed by several of the films linked with potential Oscar nomination, I have been surprised by pictures which have been given scant acknowledgement.

An example of the latter is A Call To Spy - an account of the true story of allied female spies during the Second World War.

While it is true that its low budget means that Lydia Dean Pilcher's picture lacks power in some of its punches, it is a tale which is told well enough to elicit emotion from its audience as well as informing them of real-life heroism.

It stars and was written by Sarah Megan Thomas who plays Virginia Hall, an American who faces discrimination against her desire to play a significant part in her country's war because she has a wooden leg.

She comes to the notice of the British Special Operations Executive which has been ordered by Churchill to recruit and train women as spies.

Their mission is to conduct sabotage and work with the resistance in Nazi-occupied France.

Its recruiter is Vera Atkins (Stana Katic) who has her own back story as a Romanian Jew who is striving, without success, to be recognised as a British citizen.

Anyway, she hires Hall and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Apte), a Muslim pacifist. 

And, much to the surprise of the male establishment, the women show incredible bravery to help undermine the ruthless Nazi regime in France.

The promotion that it was "inspired by a true story" led me to believe that much imagination would have been used during A Call To Spy.

However, my post-film reading evidenced that it is much nearer fact than fiction. 

Hall, Atkins and Khan were all real people who contributed enormously to the wall effort.

Thomas, Katic and Apte played them with vigour and give the audience a flavour of how daring spies must have been during the war.

Sure it is rough around the edges, it occasionally jars and its dramatic moments could have been better executed but it is history which was well worth telling and it left Mrs W and me feeling uplifted.

Reasons to watch: Riveting true story

Reasons to avoid: The execution could have been more dramatic

Laughs: One

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 7.5/10

Did you know? Virginia Hall's story is on display at the CIA Museum inside the spy agency headquarters in Langley, Virginia but is off-limits to the public.

The final word. Sarah Megan Thomas: "This is a film about quote-unquote ordinary women who became extraordinary heroes, and I hope at the end of the day it inspires audiences to know that individuals can and do make a difference." Alliance Of Women Film Journalists

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