The drama “The Price of Truth” (Mr. Jones) is a story about a British journalist named Gareth Jones who visited Ukraine in 1933. He was one of the first to tell the truth about the Holodomor and the Stalinist repressions, describing the horror he saw in publications for the Manchester Guardian and the New York Evening Post.

The painting “The Price of Truth” became a joint project of Ukraine, Poland and Britain with a budget of 8.3 million euros (where the Ukrainian part was about 19%). The film was directed by Agnieszka Holland, a well-known Polish director whose films Europa Europa and In Darkness were nominated for an Oscar. Holland also filmed several episodes for the TV series House of Cards.

The Price of Truth hit the Ukrainian box office at the end of November, after the Day of Remembrance for the Victims of the Holodomor. The world premiere of the tape took place much earlier – it was presented at the Berlin International Film Festival as part of the main competition program.

Judging by the publications, at the festival, Western film critics first of all saw a biopic in the film, so their comments on the drama concerned the overly obvious characteristics of the main characters. For us, “The Price of Truth” is not just a film adaptation of the biography of a bravely naive journalist. This is a large-scale feature film that shows the monstrous, carefully hidden essence of the USSR, which gave rise to the Holodomor. Without a doubt, this part of the story needs to be brought to the big screens, even if there are obvious artistic inserts in it.

In order to fully understand the context of the picture, it is still worth familiarizing yourself with the true biography of the acting characters. The already mentioned Gareth Jones is a native of Wales, fluent in several foreign languages. At the age of 25, Jones got a job as an adviser on international policy to former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George (the politician will appear in the film as a minor character). At this time, in 1930, Gareth made his first visit to Yuzovka (now Donetsk), where his mother lived and worked for some time in her youth. It was she who told him about Ukraine.

In 1933, after becoming a reporter, Gareth Jones interviewed Hitler. After that, he again returned to the territory of the USSR to describe the political force that could resist the Nazi party. Showing curiosity and violating the new local rules that forbade foreign journalists from visiting Ukraine, Gareth saw a terrible picture of famine. He walked around the villages and collective farms, writing in his personal diary of observations about exhausted people. Some of his memories were reproduced in detail in the film (for example, the episode with the orange on the train).

Another character worth knowing about before watching the tape is Walter Duranty. He was the New York Times’ Moscow bureau chief who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Duranty supported Stalin’s policy and refuted information about a deliberately created famine, allegedly illuminating the realities of the USSR from the inside.

The meeting of Gareth Jones and Walter Duranty becomes part of the plot of the film, turning into a tense development of events. Once in Moscow, Gareth begins to understand the flaws of the socialist system and notices total surveillance. There he meets Duranty’s assistant, journalist Ada Brooks, who knows the truth, which is not spoken aloud. By the way, her heroine did not exist in real life: Brooks was added to the script for a lyrical note and a kind of love line, which, fortunately, does not come to the fore.

If we talk about the liberties of the script, then there is one more feature in it. The central line of the film is periodically diluted with scenes with George Orwell, hinting that the investigation of Gareth Jones inspired the writer to create the novel Animal Farm. This is the personal vision of Andrea Chalupa, an American screenwriter with Ukrainian roots (even before the film was made, she published a book dedicated to Orwell’s work).

Be that as it may, short digressions with George Orwell do not confuse attention and do not distract from the main plot. With them, the film plunges even more into the darkness of an all-consuming regime that destroys everyone who dares to challenge it. Scene after scene is built in such a way that the main theme of the tape becomes the constantly tangible presence of Stalinism.

The creators of The Price of Truth show the situation with hunger through the prism of the personal experience of the character Gareth Jones, who spends only a few days in a Ukrainian village (here artistic turns take precedence over facts). To demonstrate all the horrors of what was happening, this is unlikely to be enough. Any documentary shot of the 1930s will make a much greater impression than scenes from the film, briefly illustrating the Holodomor. Also, the overall impression of these moments is spoiled by not the most realistic display of the countryside and a modern building, briefly wormed its way into the frame.

The shortcomings of the film crew do not affect the work of the actors, they just adequately pick up the necessary intonations. This applies to the lead actor of the British James Norton (known for the series War and Peace, McMafia), as well as the American Peter Sarsgaard (starred in the movie Jackie) and the Englishwoman Vanessa Kirby (played in the TV series The Crown). There are also Ukrainian actors in the film, but they are given supporting roles.

Director Agnieszka Holland uses the potential of the actors, but cannot always bring the drama to a strong and vibrant peak. Perhaps, the structure of the scenario hinders her in this, in which quite a bit of time is devoted to highlighting the real picture of hunger.

On the other hand, the film fully reveals the true essence of the Soviet regime, and a reminder of this will never be superfluous. Besides, people like Gareth Jones, who dare to tell the truth, are really worth making movies.

And one more thing – “The Price of Truth” will be one of the few films in the big box office, which will be available to people with visual and hearing impairments. The tape is released with the ability to add audio commentaries and adapted subtitles to it.