Journalism and film work hand in hand more often than one would realise. Examples such as Spotlight, Zodiac, and She Said highlight the lengths journalists are willing to go to unearth the truth, making for gripping and tense cinematic filmmaking in the process. Now, James Strong, director of the BAFTA award-winning series Mr Bates vs The Post Office, tries his hand at this subgenre with his new film Words of War.

The film tells the remarkable true story of Anna Politkovskaya, a Russian journalist who makes it her mission to report the truth about the conflict in Chechnya and expose Vladimir Putin for his actions, all while receiving death threats and surviving multiple assassination attempts.

The first thing that must be commended about this film, and it may sound obvious, is choosing to bring this story to the forefront in the first place. One of the beauties of this subgenre is how it brings these untold perspectives to life, and Words of War is no exception, as Anna's story is both a riveting and heartbreaking journey. Strong does a more than serviceable job translating this story to the screen, never letting his style get in the way of the film's core messages. However, whenever sparks of creativity do come through, such as the Chechnyan survivors talking down the camera with the audio of their real-life counterparts overlapping the visuals, it adds a greater emotional weight to proceedings. In hindsight, the film could have benefited from a bit more of that.

A lot of the heavy lifting in Words of War comes from the performances, which are great across the board. Maxine Peake brings a fierce determination to Anna. Her relentlessness is unmatched, and Peake does everything she can to make that clear, even during quieter moments. There's also Jason Isaacs as Anna's husband, Sasha, who brings a delicate balance of charisma and vulnerability to the character that bounces perfectly off Peake's intensity. Ciarán Hinds is also a noteworthy addition as Anna's boss, Dmitry. He comes across as sympathetic for the most part, but is also not afraid to meet Anna at her level to emphasise the severity of the situation at large.

In terms of telling Anna's story and visualising what happened, Words of War gets the job done, but very rarely does it go the extra mile to add depth to it. The drama, real-world messages and familial tensions are all on display here, but they consistently remain at a surface level. This is never a fault of the actors as they are all delivering what is needed, and Strong knows that – his direction feels deliberately restrained to give the actors room to make their moves.

Getting Anna's story onto the screen is one thing, but some of the best journalistic dramas/thrillers give the audience more to chew on long after the credits have rolled. This film barely scratches the surface, relying purely on the real-world events to do the work instead of allowing the filmmaking tools at hand to add new perspectives to the mix and give audiences a greater emotional connection to the events they've witnessed.

Words of War is a decent enough drama that could have taken its themes a lot further. Its creative flourishes are where the film's messaging truly comes alive, but these are so few and far between that it leaves everything else feeling surface-level at best. The acting is what holds this film together, and it wouldn't be nearly as compelling if it weren't for the likes of Peake, Isaacs and Hinds delivering in their respective roles. Words of War is worth watching just to see how this important story unfolds, but aside from that, it doesn't do much else to stick in the mind in the same way that contemporaries in the subgenre often do.

Words of War is released on UK digital platforms on June 3o