False Witness gets US review

There’s a fairly good review for UKTV Channel’s False Witness miniseries which is airing in the US as The Diplomat on cable network Ion.

The most amusing note in a review in the NY Times is in wondering why America isn’t mentioned in a telemovie on terrorism.

Who’da thunk?

Excerpts:

It’s not nearly as good as it tries to be, but it’s not at all bad — a post-Sept. 11 thriller for viewers who have lost patience with Jack Bauer and don’t mind mixed signals.

…“The Diplomat” is a confusing jumble of genres: an action-adventure yarn crammed with shoot-outs, Russian mobsters and chase scenes, but set in England, Tajikistan and Australia and overlaid with a scrim of bleak, BBC-style realism that includes a Helen Mirrenesque female chief inspector from Scotland Yard, Julie Hales (Rachael Blake).

And oddly, given the context of terrorism, espionage and nuclear proliferation, the United States is not mentioned; nor is it an unseen presence. Even MI6 agents do not grumble about C.I.A. interference.

….. The French have a word, “dépaysement,” to describe the disorientation people experience when they leave home and go abroad. The sudden loss of familiar landmarks can be unsettling but also exhilarating: there is a thrilling uncertainty to even the most mundane tasks, like taking a bus or buying a meal.

Thrillers made for a non-American audience have a similar effect. Even stock characters and classic plot feints are colored in unfamiliar hues that keep viewers guessing. “The Diplomat” has its share of flaws, but they are harder to pin down and easier to forgive in translation.

Source: NY Times“>NYTimes