In the early 1950s, two British diplomats defected to the USSR, the first of what later became known as the "Cambridge Five" (the most rotten apple among them was Kim Philby, the inspiration for John Le Carré's Bill Haydon). The film before us charts the history of one of them - Guy Burgess and focuses on his apprenticeship in Britain's education system and how it not only exposed him to communist ideology but also scarred his soul in a way that made him betray his homeland. Based on a successful West End play, this is an effective period drama starring the young Rupert Everett and Colin Firth.
