This Cold War spy tale is a worthy adaptation of one of the greatest espionage novels ever written. It may not equal the book that it's based on, but it certainly does as decent a job as it's possible to do within the time frame of a movie. To truly do the story justice would require a much longer film than is practical to make. In 1979, the BBC made a well received seven part mini-series from it starring Alec Guinness.
From the book by John Le Carre, the plot features the author's most famous literary character, the cerebral spymaster, George Smiley. Although there are different tendrils to the plot, the main thrust of it is the search for a high placed Soviet double-agent within the British Secret Service (known in Le Carre speak as The Circus). Recently forced into retirement, Smiley is given the job of discovering the identity of the mole and he must dig through the Circus's and his own past to find out which one of his contemporaries is "one of them" instead of "one of us".
Smiley is the anti-James Bond spy. Bespectacled, pudgy and rather stoic, Smiley is one of the grey men in rumpled suits who inhabit Le Carre's dreary 1970s London. A subdued and restrained Gary Oldman plays the role with great skill. This isn't a flashy part as Smiley tends to internalize his emotions, but Oldman manages to convey them in small ways and you sense that this is a man who has kept things inside for so long that he may crack at any moment.
The look and feel of the film is gloomy and oppressive. It features a palette of dull greys and browns, perfectly capturing the atmosphere from the novel. Keeping the story set in the 1970s was the only way to remain faithful to the story as the time period is crucial to it. England in the early 1970s was torn by industrial strikes, rioting and power outages. Coal miners strikes forced the country to go to a three day work week as rolling brownouts were felt across the country. This was a city suffering from a hangover after the long party that was swinging 60s London. It's the perfect setting for a tale such as this and much credit must be given to the production team who managed to recreate it so well.
Along with Oldman the film features a fantastic cast of who's-who of British actors. Benedict Cumberbatch (the BBC's Sherlock Holmes), plays Peter Guillam, Smiley's right hand man. Guillam is younger and does Smiley's footwork, including infiltrating the Circus to steal documents in one of the movie's tenser scenes. Rising star Tom Hardy plays Ricki Tarr, the rogue agent who first brings to light the information that there is a mole. Veteran character actor, John Hurt is Control, Smiley's old boss for whom the identity of the mole was his obsession. As one of the only women in the cast, Kathy Burke is a scene-stealer as the old researcher, Connie Sachs. Colin Firth, Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones, and Mark Strong are among some of the other recognizable faces, all of whom do a good job.
The condensing of the story to fit within the time constraints of a movie does have one unfortunate side effect and that is that we lose out on some characterization, especially among the supporting characters. There are four suspected of being the mole. Each one represented by a code name from the film's title. In the book we are given time to get know the character of each one of them, while here we are given more of a quick impression. This has the effect of lessening the impact of the big reveal at the end of the movie. We don't really know any of the suspects all that well and so there's not a big investment by the audience as to which one it turns out to be.
For anyone who relishes a multi-layered espionage tale from the pen of the grand master of the genre, this movie is a must see. It's a rich film, packed with detail and deceit that will, I think, reward multiple viewings. I'm already looking forward to watching it again.
