{"id":21362,"date":"2020-09-30T13:55:19","date_gmt":"2020-09-30T20:55:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=21362"},"modified":"2020-09-30T13:55:19","modified_gmt":"2020-09-30T20:55:19","slug":"a-call-to-spy-isnt-perfect-but-brings-attention-to-lesser-known-war-heroes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=21362","title":{"rendered":"A CALL TO SPY Isn\u2019t Perfect, But Brings Attention to Lesser-Known War Heroes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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This feature from IFC Films will be available in select\ntheaters and on digital & cable VOD October 2nd<\/sup>. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been numerous war films released in recent\nmemory, with a new title seemingly arriving every couple of months. The new\nbiopic A Call to Spy<\/em> is another in a long line of war thrillers, but at\nleast this effort does offer something a little different. Inspired by real\nfigures in World War II, the movie depicts a small group of women who served as\nspies in France during the Nazi occupation. Their story isn\u2019t as well-known as\nit should be and this independent feature does its best to try and draw more\nattention to their heroic work behind enemy lines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The story begins in 1941 with German forces occupying much\nof Europe. Believing that officers are less likely to suspect females as\npotential threats, a desperate Winston Churchill approves a new spy agency\ncalled the SOE (Special Operations Executive) to train civilian women to serve as\nspies. Section head Maurice Buckmaster (Linus Roache) and his assistant Vera\nAtkins (Stana Katic) pick their first two very unique recruits. The first is Virginia\nHall (Sarah Megan Thomas), an American with an artificial limb, and the second\nis Muslim pacifist Noor Inayat (Radhika Apte). Hall and Inayat go through a\ntough training and are soon put in danger as they each try to help resistance\nfighters and send important details back to military leaders in England while\navoiding capture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Hall appears to be the main character and there\u2019s more focus\non her experience in Lyon, while intercutting to the other two women stories.\nThomas is fine in the role and tries to imbue Hall with a straight-forward and\ndirect confidence, but Inayat is by far the most dynamic character and ends up\nas the film\u2019s standout. The plot takes her to the most extreme places both\nemotionally and physically and the performance is remarkably sympathetic and\nrelatable. And when the all characters are involved in clandestine operations trying\nto evade capture, the movie works very well. There\u2019s always a sense of unease\nand tension as these women are stopped by officers, forced to present their papers\nand explain their behavior without giving themselves away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition to the immediate dangers, each of the leads has\nto deal with interpersonal struggles. Atkins is given a job title is much lower\nthan what her work entails and isn\u2019t trusted by some within the organization\nbecause of her background and immigrant status. Hall contends with being passed\nover for various jobs because of her artificial limb, and Inayat must deal with\nthe opposing views of family members and taking on a role in the war that in\nsome ways contrasts her own personal beliefs. Naturally, all the characters end\nup delivering what amounts to speeches on their concerns and issues with their\nsuperiors at various points in the feature. These moments are well performed,\nbut at times are so earnest that they feel too on-the-nose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it is generally well made (especially considering the\nfilm was independently produced), having a story that jumps back and forth\nbetween three characters who only occasionally cross paths results in minor\nissues. One can imagine the passion to tell all of their experiences in as much\ndetail as possible, but the approach does occasionally fog things up and push\nthe most engaging character and elements into the background. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It is wonderful that A Call to Spy<\/em> has been made and can bring attention to lesser-known war heroes. And the filmmakers have done an impressive job of recreating the era and locations on a limited budget as well as providing some tense moments. Yet, one can\u2019t help but think it might have been wiser to really pinpoint its attention on a specific individual rather than cut between several characters, and instead focus on the immeasurable hardships one figure experienced abroad and on their own in a dangerous land.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This feature from IFC Films will be available in select theaters and on digital & cable VOD October 2nd. There have been numerous war films released in recent memory, with a new title seemingly arriving every couple of months. The new biopic A Call to Spy is another in a long line of war thrillers, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,391,392,393,394,2789,6251,7798,12464,15018,16582,17665,18852,18907,18938,22825,23722,23846,23959,24534],"class_list":["post-21362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-a-call-to-spy","tag-a-call-to-spy-film-review","tag-a-call-to-spy-movie-review","tag-a-call-to-spy-review","tag-biopic","tag-drama","tag-france","tag-linus-roache","tag-noor-inayat","tag-radhika-apte","tag-sarah-megan-thomas","tag-spies","tag-spy","tag-stana-katic","tag-thriller","tag-vera-atkins","tag-virginia-hall","tag-war","tag-wwii"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21362"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21362\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}