The most intelligent thriller since Eye in the Sky, OUR KIND OF TRAITOR is my kind of film.
Exotic locations, exquisite production design, excellent cast, exhilarating script and exuberant direction make this latest cinematic adaptation of a John Le Carre novel a worthy addition to the canon.
Holidaying in Marrakesh, British couple Perry and Gail don’t seem to be having a carefree time. She is still smarting from his treachery with a student, he’s upset she can’t divorce herself from her work as a high flying legal eagle.
Perry is a literary academic with a romantic soul and when Gail turns traitor to their travel plans, he’s seduced by a big bear of a man who embraces life unabashedly.
The man is Dima, a money launderer for the Russian Mafia, wanting to “defect” to the West and in Perry he has found his perfect conduit.
Le Carre was once hailed as the anti Bond, a storyteller of espionage that told the grimy, tawdry tale of Cold War spies as it was, without the gloss and the glam that was part and parcel of the 007 fantasia.
OUR KIND OF TRAITOR is the Old Master taking some of those excesses – we are talking Russian oligarchs after all – and weaving them into a smart, tense, yet believable, international espionage thriller.
Adapted by Hossein Amini and directed by Susanna White, OUR KIND OF TRAITOR boasts a terrific cast headed by Ewan McGregor and Naomi Harris as Perry and Gail.
Stellan Skarsgard puts in a stellar performance as Dima, exuberant and dangerous, a benevolent bully and irresistible force. As does Damian Lewis as Hector, the hectoring and hectored MI6 man, whose honour is hamstrung by the powers that be. Career sidelined by political expediency that became a personal attack, Hector has a dual agenda for getting his hands on Dima’s fiscal files.
Part Smiley, part Harry Palmer from The Ipcress File, Lewis’ portrayal is pitch perfect contemporary with a fine nose for nostalgia, aided greatly by Julian Day’s exquisite costume design.
Sumptuously shot by cinematographer Anthony Dod Mantle, Academy Award winning lenser of Slumdog Millionaire, OUR KIND OF TRAITOR is my kind of travelogue, with fantastic locations in Finland, the UK, Paris, the French Alps, Bern and Marrakech.
Embezzlement, espionage, executions, enigma and a kick arse score by Marcelo Zarvos – everything you could want in a sophisticated, superior pot-boiler- is on screen in OUR KIND OF TRAITOR – your kind of movie if you relish international intrigue.