Evan McGregorThe spy thriller accurately portrays the Russian mafia in a clip one expert calls “the most dangerous and the scariest.” The Scottish actor is widely known for his portrayal of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel trilogy – including The phantom menace, Attack of the Clonesand Revenge of the Sith – which grossed nearly $2 billion combined at the box office from 1999 to 2005. In 2022, Ewan McGregor reprized the role in the Disney+ miniseries, Obi Wan Kenobi.
Outside Star WarsMcGregor has shown his versatility in films across a wide range of genres, starting with his role as a drug addict in Train location. He went on to star in the musical Moulin Rouge!the war film Black Hawk downthe fantasy drama Big Fishthe suspense Angels and Demonsthe LGBTQ romantic comedy I love you Phillip Morrissupernatural horror Doctor Sleepand the DC movie Birds of Prey. In 2016, McGregor starred in the only spy thriller of his career, Our kind of traitorwhich grossed just US$9.7 million at the box office.
Our Type of Traitor Accurately Portrays the Russian Mafia
An Expert Called 1 Clip “The Most Dangerous and Scariest”
Ewan McGregor's spy thriller, Our kind of traitoraccurately portrays the Russian mafia in a clip one expert calls “the most dangerous and the scariest.” Directed by Susanna White and written by Oscar nominee Hossein Amini, based on John le Carré's 2010 novel of the same name, The 2016 spy thriller follows a couple who become involved in a Russian oligarch's scheme to defectfinding themselves trapped between the Russian mafia and the British secret service, both untrustworthy. The film stars Ewan McGregor, Naomie Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, Damian Lewis and Alicia von Rittberg.
In a new video from Insidera former CIA agent and Russian mafia investigator, Joe Serio, rated scenes of the Russian mafia in film and TV for realism, including their global reach and influence, as portrayed in Ewan McGregor's film. Our kind of traitor. Serio also discussed the connection to real-life mob boss Semion Mogilevich. Overall, for the “fear factor“, Serio rated the clip 9/10. Read his full comments or watch part of the video below:
The main driver behind this film is the relationship and machinations between a major Russian money launderer and UK authorities, politicians and the intelligence community, but the truth is that this is highly dangerous and if you look at money laundering money and just look at the Bank of New York scandal in 1999. Semion Mogilevich, when you look at Semion Mogilevich, he was involved and is a friend of Putin and is protected by Putin and when I was the director of the Moscow office of the leading company worldwide in business investigation and business intelligence, I realized that all of our biggest cases were somehow linked to Semion Mogilevich – employee bribery, human trafficking, weapons smuggling, drug trafficking. The Bank of New York scandal, there's the whole package there and you start to see some of the game that's played and how complex it is and how many people are involved.
So this piece is the most dangerous and scariest clip you've shown me. In this video, the big question is to what extent Western politicians have been corrupted by the enormous amount of money that the Russians have and the short answer is: maybe no one wants to hear this, but there is a lot of money. There is so much corruption throughout Europe and the United States because of Russian mafia money, Russian government money. There have been senior law enforcement officials in the US who have retired and then gone to work for Russian oligarchs, which at first glance may be nothing, but it doesn't look good, it doesn't smell good. We can talk about blood, we can talk about guns and we can talk about knives, but the scariest clip is when politicians start getting paid a lot of money and being influenced. It is no surprise that Russia has a huge interest in destabilizing the West. This has been happening forever and especially under the current regime, they are trying their best to undermine, take advantage of any weaknesses in the European bloc and in the United States to undermine democracy. Obviously, on the surface, it doesn't seem like a scary clip, but for the fear factor, I have to give it a nine out of 10.
Corruption is sometimes scarier than violence
Expert Joe Serio discusses how a scene in Our kind of traitor emphasizes the global influence and intricate corruption of the Russian mafia, which he finds far scarier than any depiction of violence. He discusses real-life mob boss Semion Mogilevich's deep ties to the Russian leadership, massive money laundering, and crimes such as bribery and trafficking. He also criticizes Western complicityobserving how corrupt politicians are influenced by Russian funds and how former US officials work for oligarchs. Instead of action, Our kind of traitor The spy film thrills through a chilling portrait of how this corruption can undermine democracy.
Source: Insider