- Title: A Call to Spy
- IMDb: link
Set during WWII, Stana Katic stars as Vera Atkins charged with finding and recruiting women to be spies for the Special Operations Executive in order to obtain vital information in Nazi-controlled Europe. Trained in sabotage and subversion, the SOE’s agents are sent in to build spy networks and relay information back about the enemy.
Based on true events, A Call to Spy focuses on two of Vera’s recruits Virginia Hall (Sarah Megan Thomas), who would become known to the Germans as “the most dangerous of all Allied spies,” and Noor Inayat Khan (Radhika Apte) who became the first female wireless operator sent into occupied France.
A Call to Spy is an old school spy thriller about normal people standing up to do the extraordinary when called upon to serve a country that doesn’t value them as much as it should. Director Lydia Dean Pilcher and screenwriter Sarah Megan Thomas not only shed light on the women’s accomplishments but also highlight the sexism and racism they fought both abroad and at home by those questioning their loyalty and usefulness as part of the war effort.
The trio of leading ladies each bring something special to the project. Katic’s Vera fights the politics and distrust within the SEO, despite having the respect of her direct superior, while consistently worrying about all the agents in the field. Apte’s Noor struggles to prove that a small, quiet, pacifist Indian woman could do great things at wartime to help bridge the gap between Great Britain and India. And Thomas’ Hall must consistently prove her physical handicap won’t hold her back from becoming one of the SEO’s most effective agents. Each character has their own story to tell which is woven into the shared tapestry of the women’s achievements in this compelling tale of service and heroism.
