''The Spy'' is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...

-language

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

espionage

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air a ...

miniseries A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format ...

, created and directed by

Gideon Raff Gideon "Gidi" Raff ( he, גדעון „גידי" רף; born 10 September 1972) is an Israeli film and television director, screenwriter, and writer. He is best known for his creation of the Channel 2 thriller drama series ''Prisoners of War'', ...

, based on the life of

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

's top

Mossad Mossad ( , ), ; ar, الموساد, al-Mōsād, ; , short for ( he, המוסד למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים, links=no), meaning 'Institute for Intelligence and Special Operations'. is the national intelligence agency ...

spy

Eli Cohen Eliyahu Ben-Shaul Cohen ( he, אֱלִיָּהוּ בֵּן שָׁאוּל כֹּהֵן‎, ar, إيلياهو بن شاؤول كوهين‎; 6 December 1924 – 18 May 1965), commonly known as Eli Cohen, was an Egyptian-born Israel ...

, who is portrayed by

Sacha Baron Cohen Sacha Noam Baron Cohen (born 13 October 1971) is an English actor, comedian, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his creation and portrayal of the fictional satirical characters Ali G, Borat Sagdiyev, Brüno Gehard, and Admiral ...

. The series is a production by French company

Légende Entreprises Légende Entreprises is a French film production company founded by Alain Goldman in 1992. Its first film was Ridley Scott's '' 1492: Conquest of Paradise'' in 1992, which was followed by Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born ...

for

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

. OCS is airing the show in France and Netflix is streaming the show internationally outside France. The six-episode miniseries, released on September 6, 2019, on Netflix, was inspired by real-life events. It is based on the book ''L'espion qui venait d'Israël'' (English: ''The Spy Who Came from Israel''), written by Uri Dan and Yeshayahu Ben Porat. The series has received "generally favorable reviews" according to

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, with Baron Cohen's performance being praised. However, the series has been criticized for lapses in historical accuracy. There is no independent verification about whom Cohen met with in the Syrian elite while working undercover in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Damascus )), is an adjective which means "spacious". , motto = , image_flag = Flag of Damascus.svg , image_seal = Emblem of Damascus.svg , seal_type = Seal , map_caption = , ...

. AbuKhalil, As'ad (September 24, 2019)
Netflix’s Mossad Propaganda
''

Consortium News Robert Earle Parry (June 24, 1949 – January 27, 2018) was an American investigative journalist. He was known for his role in covering the Iran–Contra affair for the Associated Press (AP) and ''Newsweek'', including breaking the Psychologica ...

''. Retrieved October 1, 2019. At the 77th Golden Globe Awards, Baron Cohen received a nomination for Best Actor – Miniseries or Television Film. The series was mainly filmed in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

Plot

The miniseries follows the exploits of

, a

spy. The story takes place during the years leading to the 1967

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab states (primarily Egypt, Syria, and Jordan) from 5 to 10 ...

between Israel and Syria. It follows Cohen's past in Egypt as an army reject, to his infiltration of the Syrian Ministry of Defense. He assumes the identity of Kamel Amin Thaabet and establishes himself in Syrian high society. After having befriended people who would eventually take over Syria, Cohen is appointed as the country's Deputy Defense Minister and becomes a close confidant to the future president Amin al-Hafiz.

Cast

as Eli Cohen / Kamel Amin Thaabet *

Hadar Ratzon-Rotem Hadar Ratzon-Rotem () is an Israeli actress. Early life Hadar Ratzon was born in Jerusalem, Israel, to a family of Mizrahi Jewish ( Yemenite-Jewish) descent. She grew up in Hod HaSharon, Israel. Ratzon graduated from Yoram Levinstein Acting S ...

as Nadia Cohen, Eli's wife * Yael Eitan as Maya *

Noah Emmerich Noah Nicholas Emmerich (born February 27, 1965) is an American actor and director who is best known for his roles in films such as '' Beautiful Girls'' (1996), '' The Truman Show'' (1998), ''Frequency'' (2000), ''Miracle'' (2004), '' Little Child ...

as Dan Peleg *

Nassim Si Ahmed Nassim ( ar, نسیم) also transliterated as Nacim, Naseem, Nasseem, Nasim, Nesim or Nessim, is a unisex Arabic name. It is mostly used in Middle Eastern and South Asian cultures and language groups. It may refer to: Company *Nasim Sdn Bhd, a m ...

as Ma'azi Zaher al-Din *

Moni Moshonov Shlomo "Moni" Moshonov ( he, שלמה "מוני" מושונוב; born 18 August 1951) is an Israeli actor, comedian, and theater director. Early and personal life Moshonov was born in Ramla, Israel, to a Sephardic Jewish family that immigrated ...

as Jacob Shimoni *

Alona Tal Alona Tal ( he, אלונה טל, ; born ) is an Israeli actress and singer. She is known for her roles in ''Veronica Mars'' as cheerleader Meg Manning, in '' Supernatural'' as budding monster hunter Jo Harvelle, and in '' SEAL Team'' as grad stu ...

as Julia Schneider * Mourad Zaoui as Benny *

Alexander Siddig Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi (born 21 November 1965) is a Sudanese-born English actor and director known professionally as Siddig El Fadil and subsequently as Alexander Siddig. Siddig i ...

Ahmed Suidani Ahmed Suidani ( ar, أحمد سويداني‎; 1932–1994) was a Syrian soldier and politician. Born in Daraa in the Hauran region of Syria, Suidani became one of the most prominent Ba'athists in the Syrian Arab Army, and a close confidant o ...

* Marc Maurille as

IDF IDF or idf may refer to: Defence forces *Irish Defence Forces *Israel Defense Forces *Iceland Defense Force, of the US Armed Forces, 1951-2006 *Indian Defence Force, a part-time force, 1917 Organizations *Israeli Diving Federation *Interaction ...

sergeant * Waleed Zuaiter as General Amin al-Hafiz * Arié Elmaleh as

Michel Aflaq Michel Aflaq ( ar, ميشيل عفلق, Mīšīl ʿAflaq‎, , 9 January 1910 – 23 June 1989) was a Syrian philosopher, sociologist and Arab nationalist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of Ba'athism and its politica ...

* Hassam Ghancy as Colonel

Salim Hatum Salim Hatum ( ar, سليم حاطوم) (1928 – 26 June 1967) was an officer in the Syrian Army who played a significant role in Syrian politics in the 1960s. A member of the Syrian Regional Branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, he was ins ...

Uri Gavriel Uri Gavriel ( he, אורי גבריאל) is an Israeli theater, film and television actor. Winner of the Ophir Award and Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2005 as Best Actor in film ''What a Wonderful Place''. In 2018, he appeared as P ...

sheikh Sheikh (pronounced or ; ar, شيخ ' , mostly pronounced , plural ' )—also transliterated sheekh, sheyikh, shaykh, shayk, shekh, shaik and Shaikh, shak—is an honorific title in the Arabic language. It commonly designates a chief of a ...

Majid al-Ard *

Tim Seyfi Timur Seyfettin Ölmez (born 10 August 1971) better known as Tim Seyfi, is a Turkish-German actor. In 2017 he played his first leading role as Commissioner Pascha in a TV series of the same name. Filmography Film Television Awards In the 200 ...

Mohammed bin Laden Muhammad Binladin ( ar, محمد بن لادن, translit=Muḥammad Binlādin; – 3 September 1967) was a Saudi tycoon who founded the Saudi Binladin Group. He worked primarily in the construction industry and became the wealthiest non-royal S ...

Episodes

Production

The show was filmed in Morocco, Hungary, and the UK. Filming was said to not be possible in Syria due to the Syrian Civil War.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

, the series holds an 86% approval rating based on 43 reviews, with an average rating of 6.97/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "Though at times stodgy, ''The Spy'' exploration of a real-life spy remains engaging thanks to a moving performance from Sacha Baron Cohen." On

, it has a weighted average score of 68 out of 100 based on 16 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Nick Allen of rogerebert.com gave the series 3 out of 4 stars, largely praising the excitement the series builds and that it adds a new dimension to the spy genre. Allen writes, "...by the end of episode one, “The Spy” takes off as Eli transforms into Kamel while delivering a monologue to the camera—Kamel's life story—and the series casts a spell, showing a chameleonic actor playing a chameleonic character." Sacha Baron Cohen's performance has been well received. ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...

''s Alan Sepinwall writes, "But Baron Cohen couldn’t have found a role more well suited to his gifts and career to date. ''The Spy'' is a thriller played entirely straight, but it also feels like Baron Cohen’s persona with vastly higher stakes." Analysts have noted questions of historical accuracy of some of the events presented, as is the case with most historical dramas. According to former Syrian President Amin al-Hafiz, he never met Cohen in Argentina, much less befriended him, and the office of "Deputy Defense Minister" did not even exist in Syria at the time. The position of Chief Advisor to the defense minister did exist – a position in which Cohen claimed to have served.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spy, The (TV series) 2019 French television series debuts 2019 French television series endings Canal+ original programming Espionage television series French crime drama television series Historical television series English-language Netflix original programming Television series based on books Television series created by Gideon Raff Television shows set in Buenos Aires Television shows set in Israel Television shows set in Syria Television shows set in Switzerland True crime television series Works about the Mossad