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The Pigeon Tunnel digs deep into the life of David Cornwell, aka John le Carré. For the uninitiated, this former British spy whose tales of espionage became classics of the genre with titles including The Spy Who Came in from the Cold and The Constant Gardener. But with Foreign Office Staff forbidden from publishing in their own names, the alias, John le Carré, was used.

Academy Awardwinning documentarian Errol Morris delivers an earnest and thorough exploration of le Carré, who gives his final interview in the documentary. The two skirt the boundaries of interview and interrogation but, while set against the backdrop of the time between the Cold War and now, it’s surprisingly candid and confessional.

Being a spy at his core, le Carré still maintains a certain impenetrability. One of the very first things he does is compare an interview to performance art, letting viewers know that this is not an act of vulnerability on his part, but everything being shared is calculated and by choice. Nonetheless, Morris delves into this hidden world without making it feel like there is a wall between the content and the actual truth — it is the truth but he’s in charge of the narrative.

Oh to be a fly on their wall…le Carré and Morris almost come across as co-conspirators,which makes the watch all the more intriguing.The former spy is a deeply interesting character we rarely have access to outside of action packed blockbuster films, so the documentary is enlightening in a way. We know better than anyone that this type of head-on production can get boring, but The Pigeon Tunnel is anything but.

You can watch the documentary on Apple TV.

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