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Garbo, The Man Who Loved Spying
Edmon Roch’s New docu-thriller
With my love of everything espionage, agents and double-agents, my fingernails are near the bone waiting for the opening of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy adapted from the novel from John Le Carre. Yet, for now I wanted to turn the spotlight on another fascinating true story of espionage, GARBO: THE SPY.
There is perhaps no better embodiment of the double agent than Juan Pujol Garcia, the only person to have been decorated by both the Allies and the Axis for service during Word War II. Director Edmon Roch’s new docu-thriller profiles the enigmatic Spaniard whom British intelligence code-named “Garbo” and the Nazis dubbed “Alaric”.
Although he never fired a single shot, Pujol contributed to saving thousands of lives for both sides most notably by misinforming the Germans about the timing and locations of the Normandy invasion. He possessed a tremendous mastery of creative fiction, and his inexhaustible imagination also produced over 50 volumes of writings.
Here’s the kicker, he did this predominately from a desk. Pujol was considered a “desk-based spy” and due to being self-taught made many mistakes. For one, he had never been to London and spoke very little English. Always got the English currency system wrong. But his merit was that he played his role better than anyone else, hence the nickname “Garbo”.
A conversation with the director…
You define the film as a thriller documentary.
Yes, but its also a comedy, and also a sort of short story with touches of Graham Greene. Greene, as with John Le Carre, was very much involved with the British Intelligence services. In fact, it is said that Greene, who knew the story of Garbo, was so inspired by it he wrote Our Man in Havana.
What did Garbo do?
In his own words, he “made a contribution to the good of humanity.” He became the great master of what is now known as “the art of deception.”
How did he decide on being a spy?
With great naivete he pays a visit to the British Embassy, who mistakes him for an infiltrated Nazi. But this does not intimidate Pujol, and instead, he forges an even bolder plan: to collaborate with the Third Reich in order to win the sympathy of the Allies. Surprisingly, the Germans believe him and give him an accelerated course on espionage techniques, as well as a salary. His objective? To obtain important military information from England. Pujol assures them and indeed, the messages start flowing in from London.
That’s when he goes to London?
No! He was in Lisbon, watching newsreels and reading foreign newspapers to find out what was going on in England. Pujol couldn’t afford to keep quiet since his job depended on it. So with the help of a dictionary and an old railway timetable, he started sending messages pretending to be in London and using a friend who was a pilot in the RAF to deposit the messages at a postal address in Lisbon.
Pujol tells his German controllers that in order to avoid the pilot’s suspicions, he has tricked his friend into believing that the messages are love letters for a woman living in Lisbon. The Nazis believe him, and little do they know, they are the first to get duped. There was no pilot friend: it was Pujol himself who’d leave the letters in the postal address, which the Nazis would later pick up. This way, the envelopes didn’t have to have a postage stamp, and Pujol could write the right information just by writing a date that was prior to the publication of the news. It was just perfect. Simple and perfect.
Despite the seriousness of the issue, you take a humorous tone.
For Pujol, being a spy was also like a game. A very serious game, but we mustn’t forget that he had no formal training, and that he was a self-taught man with great ingenuity and with an incredible capacity to survive the most difficult and threatening situations. In English, “play” means both “to play a game” and “to play a role” and Pujol was a master of both. He fought in two wars, on two sides, had two families, two lives and even two deaths. There is no better definition of a double agent.
For lovers of espionage, the docu-thriller GARBO: THE SPY is must see.