Author: Publisher

 By Miv Evans

This documentary isn’t the gripping spy thriller the filmmakers claim. Reenactments replace history and the narrator is the giggly 90-year-old widow of the film’s subject. It all seems pretty mundane until, unexpectedly, the little old lady’s facade is stripped away. Then it gets fascinating.

Ted Hall was an 18-year-old Harvard graduate when he was recruited to work on what was to become the world’s first atomic bomb. A year later, the fruits of US science were dropped onto Japan’s homeland and Hall did not approve. He claimed he secretly believed that a U.S. post-war monopoly of such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe. Two months later, he started passing key information about the bomb to the Soviet Union. In other words, a rich kid decided to save the world.

At the time, the president of the Soviet Union was Stalin. Hall had a world of rulers to choose from but decided to get into bed with a dictator who had famously executed a million of his own people. Why didn’t he head for a democratic country, such as the UK? They had just led the charge to eradicate that other well-known psychopath and their total execution of nationals was zero.

Not satisfied with having established himself as a traitor, Hall then went on to claim, in an old video recording, that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were innocent of the crime they were executed for. He and a friend acted alone. His excuse for not coming forward was that his wife talked him out of it. She told him that it wouldn’t help the Rosenbergs and would make their own lives ‘difficult.’ Perhaps that’s something she’d like to repeat to the Rosenberg’s sons who were orphaned when those switches got flicked. Having established herself and her husband as reprehensible, she then goes on to voice her disgust at the American people for celebrating the executions. She thought it was in very poor taste.

Joan Hall assassinates what’s left of her character by admitting she didn’t ever take her membership of the Communist Party seriously. The only thing she enjoyed was the social side. Apparently, the happy couple drove past the Rosenberg’s prison on their way to one of their parties on the night of the execution. That might seem bizarre but, as the self-proclaimed ‘compassionate spy’ said, it would have been tricky to explain their absence. Spoken like a true hero.

A Compassionate Spy – Official Trailer (2023) – YouTube

Directed by Steve James
Produced by Steve James, David Lindorff, Mark Mitten

By Miv Evans

In this thriller, subterfuge is played out against an ancient backdrop of political struggle.  Every aspect is compelling but, at times, the narrative gets bogged down and lacks clarity.  But even at its foggiest, the story whispers, ‘It’s the truth.’  The writing may not be the best but Death of a Whistleblower isn’t just a film.  It’s a whistleblower in and of itself. 

Luyanda Masinda’s (Noxolo Dlamini’s) is a South African investigative journalist.  One night she ends up in a Johannesberg bar with a fellow wordsmith, Stanley Galloway (Rob van Vuuren). Galloway is the editor of a high-profile political outlet and attractive enough for Luyanda to accept his invitation to go home with him.  The following morning, just after they leave Galloway’s apartment, their car is rammed, The two are surrounded and Galloway is  assassinated.  Luyanda escapes relatively unscathed but becomes consumed with her quest to track down the people who orchestrated her lover’s death.

The deeper Luyanda digs, the more dangerous her quest becomes.  Within days, she discovers that South Africa may be a victim of state capture.  Evidence points to a corrupt group of politicians who are covertly hiring out government troops, military equipment and chemical weapons to rogue African countries.  There is a moment of story clarity when the intrepid Luyanda confronts a military elite about what she has discovered.  It’s a long journey to get to this point, but perhaps the filmmaker wanted to make sure no one gets left out when the lid is finally blown open.

There is more than one person to whom the title of this film could be referring.  The obvious choice is Stanley Galloway who was planning to whistleblow on a global scale.  Then there is Albert Loots (Irshaad Allywho), a military employee who dices with death by smuggling  top secret data on a daily basis.  The third contender is Luyanda herself, who pokes the bear with no thought for personal safety.  Sadly, these three are not alone.  The remaining contenders are listed at the end of the film.  They’re amongst the many who, like Galloway, paid the ultimate price for loving their country.

Perhaps this film explains South African’s perpetual absence on the global stage.  Israel, with a population of nine million, is never out of the news.  South Africa, with a population of 60 million, is never in it.  It could be that that’s how the government has engineered it, or it  could be that the the world isn’t yet ready to let go of the Mandela Fairy Tale.  Surely Apartheid didn’t get replaced by something that can’t even pass the smell test?

Death Of A Whistleblower TRAILER – YouTube

RELEASE DETAILS 

Toronto International Film Festival

World Premiere:
*Saturday, September 9^th at 2:45pm EST
TIFF Bell Lightbox (Cinema 1)

Additional Public Screenings:
*Sunday, September 10^th at 9:40pm EST
ScotiaBank (Cinema 7)

*Sunday, September 17^th at 10pm EST
ScotiaBank (Cinema 10)

By Miv Evans

Our fascination with the criminal world has prompted filmmakers to keep churning out anything that shines a spotlight on the bottomless underworld. So there is plenty of room for a tale about a Canadian criminal who claims new lands as his own, and preferably those that are laced with landmines.  The Canadian is called Gerald Blanchard and he narrates a most fascinating tale.

Gerald was adopted as a baby.  His parents divorced when he was young and his mother uprooted him from a city he loved and took him to Omaha, Nebraska.   He was skinny and wore spectacles and his ‘nerdiness’ got him the wrong kind of attention.  Bullied and friendlesa, he buried himself in the art of electronics but, after a while, he became restless.  His life was boring and meaningless and he started thinking of ways to make it more interesting.  And just like that, his pre-teen criminal career was launched. 

Instead of following in the footsteps of everyday shoplifters, Gerald creates something a lot more sophisticated.  He becomes a thief, of course, but around the thieving he builds a sophisticated system that enables him to achieve full retail price for everything he steals  And he steals a lot.  But when he gets stopped by the police with a car full of stolen goods, he gets clean away with it. Emboldened by his success, he progresses from car loads to trucks.   Within weeks of launching his new career, he is, without doubt, the highest earning schoolboy in the entire Americas.

There is much in this documentary that seems far-fetched, but facts are backed by the many witnesses who share first-hand accounts of Gerald’s daring.  These include the two boys he enlists to accompany him on his shoplifting sprees.  Their young lives are forever changed by the skinny kid who is fearless, ingenious and who treats his interactions with the police as some kind of game.  He just doesn’t take the law seriously.  And when he eventually gets arrested and deported to Canada, instead of regretting the folly of his ways, his activities escalate.  But this renewed boldness attracts the attention of two Winnipeg detectives who spend the rest of their working lives in pursuit of the unfathomable criminal who’s causing global mayhem.

There are many intriguing aspects to this story, but the most fascinating of all is Gerald’s pervasive desire to dance with fate.  There are times when, even though he can easily escape, he puts himself in harm’s way.  And instead of enjoying his new jet-set life, he goads the very people who want to take away his freedom.  Gerald has a lot to say about his escapades, but makes no comment on his compulsion to stare down the barrel of a gun.  Perhaps that’s because it’s a flaw he doesn’t celebrate, or perhaps even the mastermind himself doesn’t know what keeps dragging him to the edge of the precipice.      

RELEASE