When I read the description, I wanted to see Julia, and as I watched the movie, I realized that I saw it before! What I think that the movie does well: contrasting the almost polar opposite trajectories of two friends that only meet briefly in childhood and at the threshold of adulthood, the limits of knowledge of another person that you’re supposed to be close to either due to natural (time, distance) or unnatural (politics) forces, the decision to live or leave a comfortable life and being deeply psychologically affected by something that didn’t happen to you. I was convinced that they had a deep friendship and thought there was some basic truth to the idea that sometimes a friend can be trusted more than family no matter how much time has passed. Julia does fall apart when it comes to intrigue so when I looked for details about the story, I was surprised that it was supposed to be based on an actual memoir and then disappointed to discover that the memoir was *ahem* embellished. Oh well, truth can be tricky when you’re a writer. I think that it must have felt real to the author. Pretend it is fiction. Julia is still worth a look if my description of the well executed themes sound appealing.