Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Director: Tomas Alfredson Starring: Gary Oldman, Colin Firth, Tom Hardy, John Hurt, Mark Strong, Benedict Cumberbatch Released: 2011 Country: United Kingdom Language: English Based on: Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy Author: John le Carré Country: United Kingdom Language: English Genre: spy novel Published: 1974 |
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is a spy novel based on the cold war. Paranoia and communism are leading forces behind the characters actions. The novel follows the life of Smiley. Smiley is a retired member of the British Intelligence, who is now called upon to find the mole in the agency. The mole is a Russian spy that has had everyone fooled for years. Secrets are being kept and traded for valuable information from Russia and America. The novel follows themes discussed in film class, such themes of paranoia during the cold war which were followed by McCarthy trials in America. People all over the world were paranoid of spies within their government that could lead to their downfall.
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (film) follows the life of Smiley (Gary Oldman) who teams up with Peter Guillem (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Ricki Tarr . Upon his investigation concerning the mole, he asks Peter to spy on his colleagues and to steal information for him. Peter helps Smiley reveal the mole. It is then revealed that Jim Ellis had known the name of the mole and was shot during a trade of information in Hungary. He was tortured and sent away. He later becomes a school teacher but is found by Smiley. There are five suspects in which Control, the leader of the "Circus", believed could be the mole. The Circus is the British Intelligence Service.
During Operation Testify, in which Jim Ellis was sent to get the name of the mole, Jim is betrayed by the mole who turns out to be Ellis's companion and friend. The mole is revealed to be one of the five suspects, Bill Haydon/"Tailor" (Colin Firth). The five of the suspects have been trading British information in exchange for Russian secrets to a handler who they believed was a spy on their side. It turns out that "Tailor" has been sending more than valuable information through the handler to Russia.
The film captures the paranoia and theme of value of information and knowledge through the close ups of various characters as each and every one of them is being watched and thinking that one of them is the mole. There are also close ups of the chess pieces in which Smiley finds Control's possible mole suspects. Through a series of flashbacks the audience can get a glimpse of the stories and operations that the men have gone through and what they know. There is also the importance of windows and over the shoulder shots throughout the film. Throughout the film windows allow the characters to spy on others and are similarly vulnerable to those that spy on them. The close up of SMiley's character and his spectacles gives hints at him being a good watcher but also blind as he had a blind spot for Bill Haydon. He couldn't see Bill clearly because Bill had been sleeping with Smiley's wife, a strategic move by Hayden, who knew Smiley wouldn't be able to look at him ever again.