Words of War review — Maxine Peake is fearsome as a Putin critic
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Politkovskaya is played with typically fearsome integrity by Maxine Peake, charting the journalist's coverage of the Second Chechen War and her increasingly strident attacks on Putin.'The only terrorist that the Russian people need to fear is their own president,' she writes. Politkovskaya's concerned husband is played by Jason Isaacs , her harried editor by Ciarán Hinds and her nemesis from the secret police by Ian Hart. All are speaking in their own accents. This isn't a bad choice from the director James Strong (Mr Bates vs The Post Office) — nobody wants to watch a bunch of seasoned thesps rolling their Russian Rs like wannabe Bond villains — but it's not entirely successful. It clashes with the physical environment (Russian language signage, newsflashes and headlines) and occasionally flirts with absurdity, as if an Irish newspaper editor is warning a Manchester journalist about an FSB heavy from Liverpool.
Other quibbles include a willowy non-role for Harry Lawtey as Politkovskaya's lachrymose son Ilya, and a sympathetic Chechen terrorist who says, 'It's an honour to meet you, Anna Politkovskaya. Back home they write songs about you.' Really?
Still, it works. Peake is that good. Isaacs is also that good. And the subject is compelling and timely. The film suggests that Martin Niemöller's famous line about authoritarian regimes coming for the journalists first has rarely been more relevant (see Trump's shakedown of the White House press pool). A powerful closing title sequence, set to Radiohead's Lucky, features a collage of some of the 1,500 journalists killed pursuing stories, claims the film, in the modern era.★★★☆☆
In cinemas from Jun 27 and on digital from Jun 30
Times+ members can enjoy two-for-one cinema tickets at Everyman each Wednesday. Visit thetimes.com/timesplus to find out more.
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