Tel Aviv, 1 9 6 1. After the Syrian Army strikes Israeli farmers again from the Golan Heights, Mossad official Dan decides to recruit office clerk Eli Cohen, an Egyptian Jew, to spy in isolated Syria. Lying to his wife Nadia that he is going for business abroad, Eli assumes a fake identity as Kamel Amin Thaabet, an importer-exporter born in Buenos Aires to deceased Syrian emigrants. Establishing contacts with Syrian emigrants, he gets a visa and travels by ship from Buenos Aires to Beirut, and from there to Damascus. He rents an apartment and makes friends with politicians and military, including the alcoholic lieutenant Ma'azi Zahreddine, the nephew of the Syrian commander-in-chief Abdul Karim Zahreddine, who shows him the Golan Heights and Syrian underground bunkers. When the Ba'ath Party takes over in a coup d'etat, Kamel bribes his way into their ranks, all the way sending telegraph messages back to Israel. Syrian intelligence agent Suidani is able to detect Kamel is Eli, a spy, and thus has him executed.
Thriller series "The Spy" is a story composed out of pure intelligence. It takes the viewers inside this spy world, but it is all done with such a sophistication, finesse, prepared directorial strategy and delicate care that the audience is in the end engaged more intellectually than by simple suspense or thrills. There is sometimes no need to invent stories when history already has so many fascinating true events at disposal, and the case of Israeli spy Eli Cohen who took on the fake identity as Kamel Amin Thaabet and infiltrated not only the reclusive Syria, but also bribed himself to rise through the ranks into the Damascus government, is one of the most incredible life stories of the 20th century. As much as comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is known for his comic creations of Borat and Ali G, this dramatic role might remain as his finest acting performance. The writer and director Gideon Raff engages thanks to several clever details: for instance, a Mossad operative is instructing Eli about his equipment as a spy—a hand mixer device has a double bottom that can open, revealing pieces of the telegraph devices which can then be assembled and used to send radio signals back to Israel. He also gives Eli a cyanide bottle to have, just in case.
Upon arriving at Damascus, Eli, now under the alias of Kamel, seemingly randomly walks the streets and leaves some coins every day to a street vendor, buying his newspapers regularly. He also buys every kitchen table from a company. Eli then hides microfilm with photos he made inside the hollow parts of the table legs, wraps them all up in newspapers, and sends them for shippment, since he works as an importer-exporter. The Mossad office then receives not only the microfilm inside these tables, but also valuable info in the Syrian newspapers. In episode 4, Eli gets a golden opportunity to go to the Golan Heights, a demilitarized zone, thanks to his friend, lieutenant Ma'azi. The military bases are under ground, and thus the Israelis do not know where they are hidden. Upon exiting said bunker, Eli feigns that the soldiers at the entrance must be exhausted from the Sun, so he arranges that high trees are planted above them, ostensibly for shade. Cue to Mossad agents observing with binoculars the newly planted trees, happily concluding how their secret targets are now at full display and marked in plain sight. Eli Cohen is such a fascinating character because of all these little details: he is small, alone in enemy territory, yet can achieve so much using his intelligence, meticulously planning so much, disguising his every ploy as innocent action. A shining spy series, one of the best Netflix shows of the decade, concise and without a single empty scene (the entire series has only six episodes), giving a valuable and rare insight into the Syrian-Israeli relations and society of that time, whereas even the dialogues ("You're insulting me with your luck"; Eli and Julia's exchange: "Kamel is not married. Eli is married" - "There is no Eli." - "It just sometimes helps me feel a bit less lonely" - "Kamel doesn't get lonely;" "I am in the presence of real Syrian soldier. A one who tonight single-handedly defeated two whole bottles of votka") and visual style have inspiration (in episode 5, a TV set in the center is divided between a split screen, featuring a soccer game for both a Mossad agent on the left and Eli on the right side of the frame), meaning that "The Spy" can be analyzed and praised from any perspective.
Grade:++++
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