Director: Lydia Dean Pilcher
Cast: Radhika Apte, Sarah Megan Thomas, Stana Katic
Score: 3.5
There is much that is told about the Second World War from the perspective of the frontline warriors who gave their lives to stop the Axis powers, particularly the Nazis, from taking over the world.
Great tales of conflict and bravery dot much of the historical landscape of the greatest armed conflict the world has known, but in this historical exposition of war, it seems, tales of many equally brave people who never tasted the bite of battle were left behind.
This is the problem A Call to Spy seeks to remedy. Written by Sarah Megan Thomas (who also plays one of the leads) and directed by Lydia Dean Pilcher, the film tells the story of two exceptionally brave women who risked their lives behind enemy lines to fuel the Allied efforts in an 'ungentlemanly' form of warfare as spies and saboteurs.
A Call to Spy focusses squarely on the Nazi occupation of France in the 1940-1941 period, just before America's entry into the war. Intelligence was hard to come by for the British during this period as the Nazis cracked down mercilessly on any illegal wireless transmissions, and several networks of spies were dug out and purged by them.
The film focusses primarily on two legendary women spies: Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas) and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Apte). Hall is an American embassy worker who repeatedly tries to become a diplomat but is rejected; while Khan is a pacifist who does her part as a wireless operator. Both the women are recruited by Vera Atkins (Stana Katic), a legendary figure in the war effort in her own right, to help the war effort behind enemy lines in France.
There is a lot of historical relevance of Hall and Khan's efforts into fighting the Nazis, far more than what a two-hour film can satisfactorily present, and A Call to Spy understands this. Therefore, it focusses on the key parts of Hall and Khan's tales in the war, with a sincere attempt to shine a light on their work and their fates - Khan's, of course, being the more tragic and terrible of the two.
Exceptional research appears to have gone into both the production of the film, and on the part of the actors in recreating the characters they portray. The script is razor-sharp and focussed heavily on the efforts of these 'ungentlemanly' actors who offered up their lives to fight the Nazis as they tackled betrayal, exposure and false information in their efforts of sabotage.
Beyond that, the film also has an impressive visual and aesthetic style, with the muted colours and rampant Nazi imagery permeating every available minute it can. It creates a powerful balance between the idea of hope, courage and human will that Hall and Khan espoused in their work, and the despair and terror that followed any syllable uttered by a member of the SS or the Gestapo. Ultimately, A Call to Spy makes every minute of its runtime count, and may yet open the doors to learning about more such unsung heroes.