Based upon the Le Carre novel, The Little Drummer Girl is a first-rate piece of entertainment. In the late 1970s Mossad employs unorthodox techniques to recruit and train an aspiring young British actress to pose as the girlfriend of a recently deceased Palestinian terrorist in order to infiltrate a dangerous Palestinian terrorist cell led by his brother. LDG is part in-depth examination of the complex, murky, secretive world of spy craft, part portrayal of a complicated love story, and part presentation of the morally ambiguous/complex Israeli/Palestinian conflict on a human level and its' effect upon individuals. The overarching theme of LDG is how role-playing in the real world can blur one' s identity and beliefs when the stakes are life and death and the good guys and bad guys are not always so easy to determine.
LDG is a superior, engrossing story. The writing is outstanding and the cast is superb, led by Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgard (True Blood) and Michael Shannon. If one prefers one's spy stories to be of the action-oriented, CGI laden, dead-body-a-second James Bond variety, LDG is not your cup of tea. If one prefers a slower-paced, complex spy story that explores character and relationships in-depth as it builds to a suspenseful, explosive climax, do not miss LDG. You will not be disappointed.
LDG has already been bcast on AMC but it will be rebroadcast and is available on AMC on demand.
