MR JONES
Even in his own country, Gareth Jones remains something of an unsung hero. Sam Pryce explores the new film about the man, which aims to bring his story to the world.
Not enough of us know the story of Gareth Jones, the Welsh investigative journalist from Barry who uncovered the Holodomor, a man-made famine that killed millions of people living in Soviet Ukraine in 1932 and 1933. The story was reported around the world, but the journalist was later banned from ever returning to the Soviet Union. During his brief career, Jones reported on the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, Mussolini in Italy and the Troubles in Ireland. He died in 1935, aged 29 and in murky circumstances – killed by bandits in Inner Mongolia, with the Soviet interior ministry suspected of involvement.
A new film called Mr Jones, directed by Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland and starring James Norton (Little Women, Happy Valley, McMafia) in the title role, seeks to celebrate the legacy of this unsung hero. Set in 1933, the movie follows Jones on his journey to Soviet Russia to report on the country’s apparent ‘utopia’, looking to set up an interview with Joseph Stalin. By this point, he has already made a splash with his interview with Hitler, and his connections to David Lloyd George allow him to obtain official permissions to travel to Moscow. However, finding that his movements are being closely monitored and his planned interview with Stalin unlikely, he makes the dangerous journey to Ukraine, where the horrors of starvation he encounters are worse than he could have imagined.
The Colley family, who are descendants of Gareth Jones, have amassed an enormous amount of research on the reporter: biographies, archive material and the online resource garethjones.org. Graham Colley is Jones’ great-nephew; Colley’s mother (Dr. Margaret Siriol Colley) and brother (Nigel Colley), though both no longer alive, were heavily involved in researching all areas of Jones’ life and the preservation of his archive. The film, says Colley, can claim considerable relevance in this age of fake news. “It’s very exciting but has a very strong political message as well. [Gareth Jones’] method of journalism is becoming even more relevant today.”
Colley was also impressed with the leading man’s portrayal of Jones. “James Norton’s performance of Gareth was excellent,” he said. “I’ve been asked if I’m a fluent Welsh speaker. I’m trying – I’m doing my Duolingo! But James, as far as I could tell, he manages his bits in Welsh extremely well.”
Jones was remarkably well-educated and spoke several languages fluently yet came from a modest background. “My great-grandparents were very keen supporters of Lloyd George and had some connections in Wales to him,” says Colley. “Gareth was obviously very bright. He went to Aberystwyth [university], then to Cambridge, and mixed with various people who went on to be Soviet spies – and Alistair Cooke, the great American commentator. I think that his parents wanted him to be an academic, but I think he probably thought it wasn’t for him. He wanted to report on war.”
But did the fact that Gareth was Welsh have any significance to the way he worked and what he was able to discover? “I suspect being Welsh made him slightly more of an observer,” says Colley. “I always see Wales as looking in on the rest of the world. It gave him a different take on things. And he was not prepared to be told what to do and what not to do. He was going to be his own man.”
For the rest of Jones’ remaining family, it seems like the man’s ethos has lived on. “Gareth’s legacy has influenced my life,” says Graham, who works as a solicitor as well as being Chair of the Liberal Democrat Lawyers Association. “He’s inspired me to be a liberal like he was, and I share his views about freedom of speech and expression and humane treatment of people. And I’d like to think that all of the members of my family share those views as well.”
Read Buzz’s interviews with James Norton and Agnieszka Holland.