The documentary “My Father the Spy,” directed by Jaak Kilmi and Gints Grube, applies various meta flourishes to a story of multiple identities and geographic dislocation. The film begins with the translator and journalist Ieva Lesinska-Geibere, born in 1958 in then-Soviet Latvia, assessing her relationship with her father, Imants Lesinskis, described at the outset as a K.G.B. spy.
Then the movie drops what for Lesinska-Geibere was a bombshell, and is for the viewer, too: In 1978, when she visited her father in the United States, he confronted her with a sudden choice: She could join him and her stepmother in defecting, or she could go to the Soviet embassy and disavow knowledge of the plan.
Lesinska-Geibere interviews a former F.B.I. agent who says that Lesinska-Geibere’s decision was seen as a wild card. What follows is an intimate memoir of the psychological ramifications of defecting: Lesinska-Geibere recalls living under a fake identity and the pain of receiving correspondence, which could have been coerced, from her mother, who is said to have also at a point been a part of the K.G.B.
The filmmakers show Lesinska-Geibere taking part in the process of creating re-enactments. In a device that is slightly cute but also affords the movie some visual distinction, dramatized photo montages illustrate certain recollections, like Lesinska-Geibere’s experience of dancing at a disco with federal agents shortly after making her decision. “My Father the Spy” doesn’t have a tidy point to make, but it succeeds at bringing a turbulent reminiscence to life.
My Father the Spy
Not rated. In English, Latvian, Russian and Swedish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 25 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, Vimeo and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
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June 16, 2020 at 11:10PM
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‘My Father the Spy’ Review: To Embrace a Parent or Denounce Him? - The New York Times
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