The Little Drummer Girl shows that modern anti-Semitism is stuck in the seventies



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Tthe small threshing machine is a very camp show. This is really the only world for him: he relies heavily on the aesthetics of the 70s, that is to say on shaky camera pans that seem to be handmade. Yet, after years of cauldron thrillers in which elegant agents fight generic threats from Russia or the Middle East, this show has something better: after two episodes, it is clear that there is nothing more politically inflammatory than a piece of time.

The first episode portrays the main actors in the adaptation of John Le Carre's novel: Charmian (Florence Pugh), the English-looking job actress, Joseph (Alexander Skarsgard), l & rsquo; Enigmatic man that she meets during a tour of Greece and the sinister and yet confessed Israeli agent Kurtz (Michael Shannon). The three united at the end of episode 1, but in episode 2, we learn exactly why, while the truth is thick and fast during its first 20 minutes.

Yet, although the show unfolds in the 1970s, relations between Israel and Palestine are as relevant as they were in the middle of the twentieth century, or even in the Nakba of 1948, often cited as a reference. And in the discussions that take place this episode, there are echoes of an era that the series would never have been able to fully predict.


Charmian – or Charlie by the way – is in a house surrounded by people that she thought she knew and Kurtz, that Michael Shannon continues to disappear in a fabulous way. Does she hate Jews, he asks. Of course not. What would she do, he says, if he discovers that they are all residents of Israel? "Do you have a bucket on hand?", She replies. It is unclear if it's a joke or not.

What becomes clear is that Charlie is still trying to figure out exactly how she feels about Israel and Palestine and, more importantly, how she feels about those things when she learns that it has real repercussions on what it used to consider as mere means of signaling. as she was pissed off. "I play whatever role is proposed," Charlie replies. Kurtz is now furious.

"When are you going out and doing something about all this talk?"


Over the past year, it has become increasingly clear that anti-Semitism can not simply be described as paranoia or obsolescence. It is becoming increasingly clear that the infection is being re-authorized and that is how shots were fired in a Pittsburgh synagogue. It is also clear that many people – including Jeremy Corbyn – do not know how to badyze an aversion to the Israeli government without interfering in anti-Semitism.

That could all suggest that The small threshing machine takes a deeply sympathetic view of Israel. This is not the case. The way the characters are attacking the nation and what it has done – and will continue to do – is complicated. The setting of the Olympic Village in Munich, where 12 people were murdered by Hamas, is heavy. But watching Israeli agents lower the volume of a Palestinian's horror cries so that they can eat ice-cold lollipops and engage in a little talk says a lot without saying anything.


Throughout the episode, Skarsgard plays a crucial role in the conservation of the most incendiary moments of the series as a conflict and human: he works for Israel, but he has an intimate knowledge of why anyone would want Jews are killed. As he deepens his knowledge of the enemy, his gaze blank and psychotic – perfected in Big little lies – allows him to play both sides of the debate without ever betraying which of the show plays.

For all her flared jeans and her brutalism, The small threshing machine The question of performance, of sincerity and of what we really think when we realize that tunes can no longer be put aside is summed up. This shows that it is very difficult to manage conversations about the real suffering caused by the bluster when you are in the room with people at war. Nobody died before the opening credits, but the stakes are incredibly high.

At the end of the episode, she is asked to do something she must believe to be successful and that she must believe that she must be sabotaged. While episode 1 let us think we knew everyone and we were quickly disillusioned, by the end of episode 2, nothing is clear. It's a deeply nuanced and subtle television and we could not be more excited before four extra hours.

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