Red Joan(2018)

Submitted by Evil Ed

Joan Stanley (Judi Densch/Sophie Cookson) did provide British nuclear secrets to the Russians in the post-WW2 years. She conspires with her lover Leo (Tom Hughes) and her friend Sonya (Tereza Srbova) to provide critical data to the KGB which accelerates the development of the atomic bomb by Stalinist Russia.

Her naive intentions were to create a “just” world so that the U.S. and Russia would have the same nuclear capabilities and, therefore, never use them in another world war.

Leo dies by hanging, but it is never determined whether it is suicide or a KGB assassination. Sonya, evidently, flees Great Britain to Russia with her young son (by Leo). After Max (Stephen Campbell Moore) is wrongfully imprisoned, Joan admits to him during a prison visit that she passed the secrets along to the Russians.

Joan blackmails William (Freddie Gaminara) to get Max released and book passage for both her and Max to Australia. They have a son, Nick (Ben Miles) who, as an adult lawyer, is appalled by his Mother’s actions when she is accused of treason as an elderly woman, but agrees to defend her in court.

We learn at the end that this movie is loosely based on the real-life story of Melita Norwood, who was never prosecuted and died in 2005.