When you read John le Carré, are you in a world of fiction, are you in a world of fact, or are you in some strange blend of the two? This is one of the many questions that pop up in veteran documentary filmmaker Errol Morris’s documentary of David Cornwell, non-de-plum John le Carré, whose breakthrough novel “The Spy Who Came in From the Cold” sold upwards of 15 million copies and was made into an Oscar-nominated film with Richard Burton in 1965. This is not classic Morris – for that, go to 1988’s “The Thin Blue Line”. However, Cornwell is an interviewer’s dream come true; intelligent and erudite with a gorgeous speaking voice, he charms the viewer instantly. The stories about his father, whose spirit is inextricably interlinked with his own, are charming and chilling.
He was once a spy himself, which is one of the reasons his books – and most of the TV and movie adaptations – are so enthralling. The same applies to this interview. His insight into the mind of the notorious World War 2/early Cold War Russian spy Kim Philby will leave you spellbound. So, even though Morris occasionally treats his subject with too much respect – the word fawning comes to mind – we are grateful that they sat down together one afternoon before Mr. Cornwell passed away in 2020. The haunting score is by Morris’ usual collaborator, Philip Glass, who collaborated with Paul Leonard-Morgan.
Why is it called The Pigeon Tunnel?
“The Pigeon Tunnel” takes its title from something Cornwell/Le Carré saw as a child. At a Monte Carlo resort, captive-bred pigeons were forced through a tunnel that led them toward shotgun-wielding men waiting to blow the birds from the sky. It’s one of several metaphors Le Carré uses to communicate his cynical worldview.
