A Superb Spy Drama * THE SYMPATHIZER
Review by Paulette Reynolds * June 2, 2024
Review by Paulette Reynolds * June 2, 2024
HBO’s The Sympathizer takes Viet Thanth Nguyen’s award-winning novel and crafts a story that goes beyond the historical hyperbole so familiar to those of us who were growing up during the Vietnam war. Hoa Xuande plays The Captain, who walks a typical spy-vs-spy tightrope which never feels stale, thanks to the crisp writing and fast-moving direction teams. He’s tasked with working for a South Vietnamese general as Saigon begins its fall in April of 1975. Feverishly, The Captain tries to juggle his official duties with his covert operations as a communist spy for North Vietnam.
Robert Downy Jr. romps through the era as CIA operative Claude, who works with The Captain through the evacuation from Saigon and re-integration into American society. Sandra Oh makes an appearance stateside during episode two, cynically bantering about the inherent racism within 'Orientalism' and bedding our hero for fun.
Viewers - especially Boomers - will undoubtedly be emotionally and politically divided in their response to The Sympathizer, but HBO offers us a multi-faceted point of view about the Asian people who lived through the Vietnam War, and their post-survival journey.
COPYRIGHT 2012/2024. Paulette Reynolds. All CineMata Movie Madness blog articles, reviews, faux interviews, commentary, and the Cine Mata character are under the sole ownership of Paulette Reynolds. All intellectual and creative rights reserved.
