“Traitors Like Us” is a vintage conspiracy film in the best sense of the word, in which a civilian becomes involved in an intelligence story. Early on, the thriller by director Susanna White is more reminiscent of classics like Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Invisible Third” than of modern James Bond cinema. The plot is accordingly psychological: each character seems to be pursuing more than one goal, the exact intentions are consistently unclear. McGregor is great in his difficult leading role, but almost better is the consistently scheming Damian Lewis, best known for a similarly duplicitous role on the TV series Homeland.
There is little action, it’s more about the difficult to understand world of the secret services, in which patriots, hard-nosed capitalists and windy bureaucrats set the tone. “Traitors Like Us” is based on a novel by the brilliant British author John le Carré, who was himself a secret agent during the Cold War and who wrote many novels that led to excellent film adaptations: “Dame, König, Ace, Spy” “Der Spy, der came from the cold”, “The Tailor from Panama” or “The Russia House” could be mentioned here. “Verräter wie wir” fits in easily and, in 108 minutes, provides a clever game of confusion that fans of the genre will really enjoy.
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