Kuklinski spy movie goes on release

Actor Marcin Dorocinski as Colonel Kuklinski in Jack Strong (press materials)

Kuklinski, aka Jack Strong, passed on thousands of classified documents to the US between 1972 and 1981, before being spirited out of the country by the Americans.

“I think if you asked 90 percent of Westerners who Kuklinski was, they wouldn't be able to tell you,” Cold War expert Professor Patrick Vaughan told Polish Radio correspondent Nick Hodge.

“It was one of the most spine-tingling, thrilling stories you could imagine.

“Kuklinski did play this really important role - risking his own life really - to get this information out.”

In this audio report, Vaughan discusses the significance of Kuklinski's undercover operations. And with the Second World War traditionally the more favoured subject among both Polish and Hollywood directors, he looks at how the Cold War has been portrayed on the silver screen to date.

The American historian teaches Transatlantic Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. He has written an authorised biography of former US National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski, and is a recipient of the Kazimierz Dziewanowski Award, which is sponsored by the Polish Institute of Arts & Sciences of America (PIASA) and the Polish Embassy in Washington D.C.

Jack Strong, directed by Wladyslaw Pasikowski, goes on general release in Poland on 7 February.

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