The Spy

Capone said : "You can go a long way with a smile but a lot farther with a smile and a gun."

I'm an Arab and watching "The Spy" and how far Eli Cohen (Sacha Baron Cohen) infiltrated the Syrian regime, I'm tempted to say that you don't even need the gun with Arabs, the smile is almost enough. I will never have enough epithets to praise the expertise and badass competence of the Mossad agents, but in all fairness, it's not as if Arab officials were known for their untouchability.

Still, Eli Cohen didn't need bribing. He went so far that had he gone farther, he might have made it as President of Syria. The series give the overdue tribute to the man for his professionalism and how quick and prone he was to take a decision. He was in fact so good that he probably set a precedent in the Arab world, making a prime suspect out of any man who'd display too much patriotism or would exhibit a wad of cash to order a grand cru. Eli Cohen, presented first as an underdog civil servant but zealous patriot, didn't know he was going to push the envelope as far as spying goes and subvert a few tropes.

Indeed, we're so used of watching James Bond-like gadget users who dispose of henchmen effortlessly, or sexy female fighters hacking complex systems like you eat a donut, here we deal with a man with a special set of skills but who must keep an ordinary facade. He's tall and handsome in a very plain-looking way, hardly fights, perhaps one or two times during the whole series (and not to his advantage) and never puts himself in hazardous situations because he knows he's too valuable to risk his neck. Thanks to his Egyptian background, he speaks Arabic and is eager to do something for his country: near the Golan border where Israeli kibbutzes are exposed to Syrian mortars.

Eli's profile is analyzed and approved by Dan Peleg (Noah Emmerich) a sort of Mossad human resources manager, and under the supervision of his boss Jacob Simoni (Moni Moshonov), he trains Eli, teaches him how to write fast in Morse code, to tail someone and more importantly, to spot and lose someone tailing you. After six months of training, he becomes Kamal Amine Thabeet a Syrian entrepreneur in Buenos Aires. He meets the handsome and classy leader of the Ba'ath movement General Al Hafiz (played by Waleed Zuaiter). And the mission picks up.

The first two episodes do their jobs by exposing the characters, we see Eli's Sephardic wife Nadia (Hadar Hatzon-Rotem), the two Mossad intermediary agents from Zurich, a man and his wife who's got a sort of motherly affection toward Eli and can't stand watching Syrian vases being ruthlessly broken by her no-nonsense husband because they hide secret papers. And of course, there's Hafiz' bodyguard and chief of security Sudani (Alexander Siddig) who's got one of these faces, like a stern-looking and tanned Rick Hunter. And whenever he's on screen, there's a certain unease, his friendliness looking as circumstantial as Eli's own.

As an Arab I know I'm not supposed to root with Eli, but when you know a little history, there's something rather gutsy and admirable in the way a small country was able to outsmart outnumbering enemies by using Intelligence. Information was the most vital asset, the sooner the better, and for that you needed someone who had a way with women and men, and knew how to push his luck... to a limit. And there came Kamal, a man with a name, a history and parents who died... we understand the convenience but don't underestimate the enemy, they might ask you where your parents are buried. Everyone's good at playing the game.

And SBC is good, too. With that haircut and thin mustache, he could really pass as an Arab. The real Eli Cohen was a little more handsome looking like an Arab version of James Garner. Sacha's acting is nuanced and interesting as a man who's constantly on the edge and must keep his composure and improvise when opportunity knocks. Something in the drawer? Go check. A photographer took pictures of the guests at a reception, take the camera. This is the line between professionalism and expertise: instinct.

But if he's a fast learner, I'm glad the writers didn't make him a 'natural', he still has a lot to learn in the first two episodes, and there's an interesting moment where a Mossad agent named Julia (Alona Tal) forbids 'Kamal' to talk about a wife named Nadia or write her name on a paper, and she doesn't ask nicely. The woman who's one head shorter manage to hold him by the throat. That said, I have a criticism with the casting of female characters many of them look the same (small frame, brunette types) and it was hard to differentiate them.

The series gets a little like "Donnie Brasco", over the course of his mission, 'Kamal' befriend people and abuse their trust, from the powerful business Sheikh Majid (Uri Gavrier) to a cocky soldier (Nassim Si Ahmed), Kamal's networking covers the who's-who of Syrian high society. I'm glad the film didn't get as far as overplaying his dual personality, it's more of a man getting closer and closer, the higher he goes the higher the stakes, the higher the risks.... The film tends to overplay these suspenseful situations where you think his luck will change.

The espionage (and counter-espionage) parts are so riveting that some subplots weren't needed but the film really nailed the atmosphere of the time and allowed Cohen to have a new dramatic performance in his filmography. Although let me assure his Arabic wasn't exactly convincing and even the name Syria was misspelled at times. Not sure the Mossad would have gone that far if it was as accurate as the writers of the series.