Mr. Jones

2019
1h 59m

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

17K

YOUR RATING

Peter Sarsgaard, James Norton, and Vanessa Kirby in Mr. Jones (2019)

Gareth Jones, an ambitious Welsh journalist, travelled to the Soviet Union in 1933 and uncovered the appalling truth behind the Soviet "utopia". His quest quickly turned into a life-or-death journey... helping inspire Orwell's Animal Farm.

Play trailer1:32

3 Videos

54 Photos

Docudrama Period Drama Biography Drama Thriller

A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.A Welsh journalist breaks the news in the western media of the famine in Ukraine in the early 1930s.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

17K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins & 14 nominations total

Videos3

Photos54

+ 47

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
On the April 1st, 2022 installment of "The Lawfare" podcast, screenwriter Andrea Chalupa reports how during the course of filming "Mr. Jones", they reached out to the New York Times for permission to quote directly from Walter Duranty's article that denied a famine had taken place in Ukraine, but the Times refused to grant permission.

Goofs
After the main character returns to Britain, he meets George Orwell in a restaurant. In this scene, at the very beginning, a modern cash register is visible, with a flat LCD monitor.

Quotes
George Orwell: [Shaking hands with Gareth Jones] Eric Blair.
Gareth Jones: Gareth Jones
Leonard Moore: But you won't find Eric Blair on the bookshelves. You'll have to look for Orwell, George Orwell, after the river.

Crazy credits
"With special thanks and in loving memory of Dr. Margaret Siriol Colley, the niece of Gareth Jones and Nigel Colley, his great-nephew for their tireless research and tending to his legacy.

Thanks to the estate of the late Sonia Brownell Orwell for the use of quotations from Animal Farm by George Orwell."

Alternate versions
There are two versions available. Runtimes are: "1h 59m (119 min) (United States theatrical)" and "2h 21m (141 min) (festival)".

Connections
Featured in Sunday AM: Episode dated 9 February 2020 (2020)

Soundtracks
Choo-Choo
Music by Matty Malneck (as Matt Malneck) and Frank Trumbauer
Arranged by Marcin Masecki
Performed by Marcin Masecki (piano), Jerzy Rogiewicz (drums), Jan Emil Mlynarski (banjola, vocal)

User reviews152

Review

Featured review

8/10

Powerful film

I'm very glad I stuck this one out.

It is a little slow at the beginning, but the moral clarity of this film really stands out. This is a true story that needs to be heard. It's a story of an undercover freelance journalist who was a great hero, though many people don't know his name. It's a story of how the New York Times and the other intellectual elites in the 1930s defended one of the most evil regimes in history. It's a story of the naivety of so many well-meaning people. It's a story of the unspeakable evil of communism. These are stories you won't usually hear from Hollywood, but someone had the balls to make this.

The only negatives of this film are some obvious lacking in production value at times. But this is made up by surprisingly terrific acting and some extraordinarily effective scenes portraying the great evils of communism.