(Poland, 128 min.)
Written and directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski
Starring: Marcin Dorocinski, Maja Ostaszewska, Patrick Wilson,
Dimitri Bilov, Dagmara Dominczyk
Now here’s a full-bodied spy thriller! Jack Strong might be the closest thing to mainstream cinema that
one will find at this year’s European Union Film Festival, but hard-core
cinephiles shouldn’t feel the least be worried that the beloved EUFF has gone
commercial. This Polish spy game is one heck of flick. Jack Strong, made for a modest budget of less than four million
dollars and co-financed by the Polish Film Institute, is understandably
something that Poland might choose to represent its national cinema at this
year’s celebration of EU currents. The film could easily be mistaken for an
adaptation of John le Carré, since it’s a steely psychological mind game with
riveting atmosphere and crackling suspense.
Jack Strong easily stands above many of the Hollywood spy films with which one might assimilate it. It stands more on par with smart Brit pics like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy and A Most Wanted Man (hence the le Carré likeness) since it’s smarter than the average fare and solidly composed. Jack Strong, built like a bullet, is sharp and deadly.
The film stings extra hard since the espionage is ripped
from a real life case in which a respected Polish army colonel named Ryszard
Kuklinski (played by Marcin Dorocinski) goes rogue and decides to aid the
Americans when his duties with the Polish army hint at a possible World War
III. Kuklinski, code named Jack Strong by his American contact, Daniel (Patrick
Wilson, who seems to speak Polish surprisingly well), stealthily accesses
top-secret materials since he’s largely respected for his support of Poland
since his missions during the Cold War. Working in close confines with a small
number of people quickly tips off higher-ranking officers and Soviet contacts,
so word gets out that there’s a mole in the inner circle leaking intel to the
Yankees.
Jack Strong has a
potent ambiance of paranoia as Kuklinski engages in a game of spy versus spy
and liaises with Daniel and his American contact in Poland, Sam (Dagmara
Dominczyk, The Immigrant) to out-manoeuver
his increasingly suspicious colleagues. Jack
Strong increases the tension of this true story by unfolding it within the
frames of an interrogation in 1997 in which a bearded and beleaguered Kuklinski
explains his actions. The outcome of his own life might be evident from the outset,
but the interviews increasingly put the fates of Kuklinski’s family in question
as it cuts back and forth between flashbacks of the father risking everything
to save his family and “present day” sequences in which he either seems to have
everything on the line or everything already lost. The personal and
psychological toll of Kuklinski’s cooperation is tangible in the cold isolation
one feels watching the character crumble as he skirts closer and closer to
detection.
Dorocinski gives an impressively layered performance as the
landmark spy. Kuklinski is a regular George Smiley when Jack Strong begins, for he is cool and detached, calculating the
odds and observing the room like an old pro. The more he delves into the work,
however, and the more it becomes imperative for him to hide, the more Dorocinski
unmasks his character’s poker face as he ships out information on the sly. The
film builds Kuklinski’s devotion as a father into a metaphor of any one
person’s responsibility to the next generation, and Jack Strong lets Kuklinski become the smarter spy as he wills
himself to invest his emotions into the mission. By the end, Kuklinski shows a level
of humanity that one rarely sees in cinematic spies.
The personal stakes also double for the complex political
backdrop that writer/director Wladyslaw Pasikowski conveys with surprising
dexterity without having to lay out the facts bluntly. Each altercation, even
those between spies of the same faction, is fraught with paranoia: the tensions
of the Cold War prevail even though it’s the 1980s as fears of Russian/Afghan
ties reignite testy USA/Soviet relations. Jack
Strong spins a global web of lies and deception as the mission assumes
graver implications and brings unexpected consequence once Jack and his family
seem safe.
This expertly-produced thriller is also just as entertaining
as it is substantial. Pasikowski goes easy on the action, yet the film is
consistently riveting for the ambiance and suspense that lurks in every scene.
Coolly composed cinematography and a strong ensemble keep this character-driven
thriller atmospheric and engaging. The film also features one first-rate car
chase, as nearly all good spy movies do, for one climactic spree through the
slippery streets of Warsaw toys with the fats of Kuklinski, his wife, and their
children as some shrewd cutting plays with time and perception. The crackerjack
sequence alone is better than the intense action sequences in Jack’s American equivalents. Jack Strong seems to have outsmarted his
American allies in the cinematic spy game: this is one stealthy thriller!
Rating: ★★★★ (out of ★★★★★)
Jack Strong screens at the European Union Film Festival on
Saturday, Nov. 22 at 7:00 pm at Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington St.
The European Union
Film Festival runs Nov. 13-30.
Please visit www.cfi-icf.ca for more information on this
year’s festival.
