It may seem like perfect timing but just a short while after that excellent BBC adaptation of The Night Manager we have another fine John Le Carre thriller, this time on the big screen in the shape of Susanna White's Our Kind of Traitor (now on general release) which again deals with ordinary people sucked into the shady world of espionage.
A London couple, tweedy college lecturer Perry and his attractive lawyer wife Gail (Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris), while on a romantic trip to Marrakech, become embroiled with Russian Mafioso Dima (Stellan Skarsgard). Fearing for his life Dima wants to spill his money laundering secrets to British intelligence, and in return hopes to defect to Britain with his family. Back home MI6 agent Hector (Damian Lewis) is sympathetic but struggles to get support for a mission higher up.
With its tale of corrupt British politicians in the pay of the Russian mob and the economic powerhouse of the City being propelled, mostly by blood money, it is bang up to date. As the story unfolds, the naive Perry goes to great lengths to help Dima and you begin to wonder why he is risking his life for a man he barely knows. However, once you get past some bumps in the way of believability, this film turns into an engrossing, energetic, globe-trotting drama with some rich characterisation especially from Skarsgard as the larger than life Russian and Lewis as the dogged British spook, not to mention some truly exciting scenes.
This taut nerve-jangling thriller is certainly my kind of film! See it on the big screen while you can!
Our Kind of Traitor
On general release nationwide
About the Author / Laurence Green
