Richard Crouse

“The Pigeon Tunnel,” a new documentary from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, now streaming on Apple TV+, is a look at the extraordinary life of David Cornwell a.k.a. prolific author John le Carré. Through a retelling of his life, Cornwell examines the very essence of truth, and how memory and manipulation play a part in how we shape our world and our perceptions.

The set-up is simple, the story is not. Morris, who does not appear on camera, allows Cornwell/ le Carré, a leisurely ninety minutes to tell the story of his astonishing life. Dressed in an elegant blue businessman’s suit, he looks every inch the erudite MI6 intelligence officer he actually was from 1960 until 1964 when his career was cut short by the betrayal of double agent Kim Philby.

In measured tones, he eloquently describes a childhood that initially seems at odds with the sophisticated man seen in front of the camera. The son of Ronnie Cornwell, a career criminal and con man, says, “reality did not exist in my childhood. Performance did.”

And what follows is a performance of a sort. One that does not rely on truth as a cornerstone.

Early on, Ronnie schooled his son in the ways of duplicity, training that came in handy in his future careers as a raconteur, spy and a novelist. Cornwell/ le Carré, who died in 2020 shortly after the interviews for this film were completed, was a master fabulist, a storyteller who created a persona for himself in addition to the characters he created for his novels. He admits that much of what he says in the film isn’t true, that his recollections have been manipulated by the vagaries of memory and the trauma of youth.

A “long family background of betrayal,” from his father’s transgressions, his mother’s abandonment and later life changing disloyalty from his friend Philby, shaped him, and that is at the heart of what Morris wants the film to illuminate.

On the surface, it’s a look at an extraordinary life. But beyond the well-told stories, the real insight comes with how he sees the world. It doesn’t matter if the biographical details are true or not, what matters is his perception. It is how David Cornwell sees himself that is important and revealing. “I see my own life as a series of embraces and escapes,” he says.

“The Pigeon Tunnel” is as compelling as any le Carré novel. Cornwell/ le Carré knows how to tell a tale, and like any good spy, he knows what details to include, and which to hide away. Morris doesn’t attempt to chip away at the façade and get at the underlying truth, because he knows, in the hands of master storyteller, a good story is a good story, whether it is true or not.