I recently saw "The Little Drummer Girl" on DVD and liked it a lot. Diane Keaton is at the heights of her powers and Klaus Kinski is convincing as Martin Kurtz (a possible reference to Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness"), a lead Israeli intelligence operative. All of the acting, direction, and cinematography are competent or better. Roger Ebert and others have downgraded the movie because of the complexity of its plot. To me, the plot is not the true focus, any more than it is in Raymond Chandler novels. What the movie is really about is the power of acting and the ways in which actors love and are consumed by their roles.
The one who loves and becomes consumed is Charlie, the Diane Keaton character. She is a star actress in a British repertory company who overwhelms colleagues and audiences by her ability to bring roles to life. She is also an enthusiastic partisan of the Palestinian cause who we see raising her voice with dramatic intensity at a public meeting. By doing this, she becomes a person of interest to an Israeli intelligence operative who recognizes her potential for his side. The Israelis kidnap her and promise to release her after they've told her what they want and what they can offer.
What they can offer is the acting opportunity of a lifetime, and one that will give her an opportunity to influence events in the real world to a far greater extent than by her flamboyant participation in demonstrations. She says that all she really wants is a just settlement and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Kurtz agrees with her, and says that they want these things as well but that extremists on both sides are hurting the efforts of both reasonable Palestinians and reasonable Israelis. By using her talents to work for them, he says, she can help to make what she wants possible.
The role of a lifetime turns out to have a dual character at which she excels. She is able to adopt both Israeli and Palestinian causes and, after extensive training from both sides, to gain the confidence of a key Palestinian terrorist. Sex plays a significant part although we are spared shots of nude bodies in motion. There's bloody violence and the film's eventual ending can be seen as a comment on the limitations of great acting.
The one who loves and becomes consumed is Charlie, the Diane Keaton character. She is a star actress in a British repertory company who overwhelms colleagues and audiences by her ability to bring roles to life. She is also an enthusiastic partisan of the Palestinian cause who we see raising her voice with dramatic intensity at a public meeting. By doing this, she becomes a person of interest to an Israeli intelligence operative who recognizes her potential for his side. The Israelis kidnap her and promise to release her after they've told her what they want and what they can offer.
What they can offer is the acting opportunity of a lifetime, and one that will give her an opportunity to influence events in the real world to a far greater extent than by her flamboyant participation in demonstrations. She says that all she really wants is a just settlement and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Kurtz agrees with her, and says that they want these things as well but that extremists on both sides are hurting the efforts of both reasonable Palestinians and reasonable Israelis. By using her talents to work for them, he says, she can help to make what she wants possible.
The role of a lifetime turns out to have a dual character at which she excels. She is able to adopt both Israeli and Palestinian causes and, after extensive training from both sides, to gain the confidence of a key Palestinian terrorist. Sex plays a significant part although we are spared shots of nude bodies in motion. There's bloody violence and the film's eventual ending can be seen as a comment on the limitations of great acting.