Coming to theatres tomorrow, Friday, November 18: GARBO: THE SPY
Edmon Roch’s engaging examination of the career of a WWII double agent has screened at Rome, IDFA, San Francisco, and Karlovy Vary among others since its debut in 2009. The film opens in NYC this weekend, expanding to LA next week, with further engagements in December and January.
The figure at the center of Roch’s film, Juan Pujol Garcia, was dubbed “Garbo” by British intelligence in recognition of his remarkable acting abilities. The Nazis knew him as “Arabel,” and, unbeknownst to them, several other names – Pujol Garcia invented a whole network of imaginary operatives to fool his German handlers, even going so far as to plant an obituary notice for one of them as part of a larger ruse. Though he was turned away repeatedly by MI5, when he revealed the extent of his deception of the Germans, he was welcomed as a double agent, and was put to use feeding the Nazis always plausible misinformation that ended up helping the Allies. Roch peels away at the layers of Garbo’s identities, revealing the little-known story of perhaps one of the most important spies of the era, instrumental in keeping the Axis in the dark about the impact of D-Day. Adding to the intrigue, the film, through historian Nigel West, reveals the additional twists and turns Pujol Garcia’s life took after the war, resulting in further surprising revelations that fit perfectly within the scope of the cipher’s life, who the viewer may still feel s/he doesn’t really know by the end of the film.
