Sadly Over-hyped

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

But for those with some mental stamina....just brilliant. The first thing that hits is the amazing photography and lighting.Symbolic clues coagulate to form the opening intros/titles,this hints at the amazing quality of script and plot that follows. Often, in such series, there's always one or two actors/actresses that don't quite 'make the grade' and interrupt the hallucinatory effect of the whole. Not so in this series. The acting is superb.Characters are quickly established in a very believable and acceptable form. This being so I think it unfair (even though I really want to) to pick out this actor or that actress for special mention.It is a homage to this series to resist that temptation as all were so,so good. Rarely do we do so, but we watched the whole thing from beginning to end...the call of the bed after a tiring day was not enough to drown out the urge to walk further into this incredible series, even just for a few hours. So we 'did our trip', took our energising journey into the beautiful literary landscape of this enthralling series, surprises lurked at almost every corner. So well produced.So well directed.so well acted. so well filmed and lighted.so well music scored...ah, well, the thing was just, well, brilliant.

This daring and complex thriller series involving the Israeli Palestinian conflict hooks you from the start but ultimately disappoints. Maggie Gyllenhaal plays Nessa a British Jew trying to promote peace in the region by using her company to build fiber optics in the Occupied Territories. Then things get unnecessarily confusing in the way they are told with flash backs involving people who looks a bit similar. Can't tell who is who sometimes. A more chronological telling would have been better. Things come together around the 3rd and 4th episodes. Then things get quite convoluted again and even with a lot of concentration it's hard to understand as things go international with other governments involved.Maggie gives a good imitation of a British accent. Don't know why they had to have that sexual incident involving her in London - didn't further the plot at all. Stephen Rea's MI5 agent speaks in a frustratingly slow manner that seems self indulgent. Nessa's brother is wrongly cast being played by an actor who looks more like someone who belongs in 'Downton Abbey'.Overall you do feel the bitterness of the conflict from both sides but it's just too confusing. A couple of episodes could have been cut and the story simplified. The climax of violence and shooting is contrived and unrealistic and unsatisfying.Not a must watch.

I recorded most of this series some time back and only just watched the last few episodes. The reason for the time gap was that halfway through I found it to be confusing and very heavy going and wasn't sure if I wanted to continue. In retrospect I realise that I could have said this of anything by Le Carre or Gerald Seymour - these types of dramas are never straightforward. In the class of the best of this genre, this series left us guessing right up to the end who was trustworthy and who was there simply to serve their own ends. The answer turned out to be nobody and yet everyone. Brilliant acting by Maggie Gyllenhaal deserves all possible accolades, with superb assistance by the supporting cast. Except for the fact that it tended to drag somewhat in the middle, this is one of the best examples I have ever seen of an attempt to view the Arab/Israeli situation from the point of view of both sides.

Well this tarnishes just about everyone government-wise. It most likely represents what is probably very true.....how things work. Betrayal, intrigue, human endeavor, are all covered. The character of Nessa Stein is so well played by Maggie Gyllenhaal. The series is almost emotionally draining. So many difficult things confronted.The things that are taken for granted are kind of interesting. Are we owners of or parents or grandparents actions? If we accept the state of being of circumstances, does that mean we agree with them? Highly recommended. Worth watching all the way through.I am curious how the series is received by British, Arabic, Israeli, and other US folks.As you go through the series, you may want to observe what is represented as true, what is represented as given, and at the end of the series, how folks are portrayed at that point. It tells me about the folks who produced this and what they believe, because although the show appears to be open, freely representing all, in the end, they show common stereotypes, in my opinion. I am not criticizing it, I don't think, but it is not as open as it appears. I still highly recommend it.