Smiley's People (DVD)

...spy agency, the KGB. It's Smiley's self-imposed mission to uncover these links and their significance to his friend's murder.

Just like the finest of British television during their peak years (the Seventies to the Nineties), 'Smiley's People' boasts excellent performances by a cast headed by the redoubtable Sir Alec Guinness. Mr Guinness, whose mere reaction shots threaten to dominate any scene, is in his usual fine form. He lives ...
...bored. We follow developments from Smiley's point of view, except that our imposed ignorance forces us to lag some steps behind him. A thread of tension runs through the tale, with mildly sardonic humour sprinkled hither and yon. The tension occasionally grows taut, offering only fleeting moments of relief from the persistent feeling of unease. Things culminate in a suspenseful finale that is profoundly moving for its humanness. In the world of which ... more

George Smiley, the quintessentially British personage and former head of British Intelligence, is yanked once more from retirement into the world of espionage. He returns ostensibly to take care of a recently deceased friend's affairs, but soon involves himself in unravelling the mystery of his friend's death, devoting his own time, effort and resources to this unofficial endeavour. Despite the continual discouragement from everyone around him - after all, he no longer works for British Intelligence, a.k.a. the Circus - Smiley still feels obligated to investigate the sudden killing of an old friend.

Based on John le Carré's novel of the same name, 'Smiley's People' is a six-hour television film that was co-adapted for the small screen by the author. The character of George Smiley could hardly be more compelling and fascinating than Sir Alec Guinness's take on the quietly charismatic character. A thoughtful man, Smiley gains our respect and admiration with his sharp intellect and perceptiveness. We see why Smiley can easily call up old friends and contacts - "Smiley's people" - to help him on this case with little or no compensation to them for their trouble.

Smiley 's astute understanding of human psychology goes beyond mere intelligence by virtue of his deep well of compassion. Although he's no fool for sentimental nonsense, his 'old school' methods and procedures are now mocked and derided by his younger, brash and arrogant - and perhaps less sage - colleagues at the Circus.

On the very night he was supposed to meet with Intelligence agents, the "General", an old Estonian friend of Smiley's, turns up dead in Hampstead Heath in London. Thanks to a strong sense of loyalty, Smiley finds himself compelled to solve the mystery, thus returning to the shadowy world he thought he'd left for good. The puzzle around the General's death involves, among others, some Estonian émigrés now residing in various Western European cities, who harbour links to one another as well as to the Russian spy agency, the KGB. It's Smiley's self-imposed mission to uncover these links and their significance to his friend's murder.

Just like the finest of British television during their peak years (the Seventies to the Nineties), 'Smiley's People' boasts excellent performances by a cast headed by the redoubtable Sir Alec Guinness. Mr Guinness, whose mere reaction shots threaten to dominate any scene, is in his usual fine form. He lives and breathes George Smiley so completely, yet never resorts to self-conscious acting tricks to flesh out his character. Every little detail in his speech, facial expressions, gestures and movements feels natural to the role. For the audience, it is the formidable George Smiley we are watching on screen, and not Mr Guinness acting the part.

The rest of the accomplished cast who give equally fine renditions of their characters include Curd Jurgens, Eileen Atkins, Beryl Reid and Michael Lonsdale, among the better-known thespians playing various European personas. Estonian, German and Russian accents bring colour to their English dialogue; only the French lines remain untranslated.

Thanks to the measured pace of a television mini-series, we get a larger exposition of character and situation. Dialogue is often oblique, keeping us guessing, but hardly bored. We follow developments from Smiley's point of view, except that our imposed ignorance forces us to lag some steps behind him. A thread of tension runs through the tale, with mildly sardonic humour sprinkled hither and yon. The tension occasionally grows taut, offering only fleeting moments of relief from the persistent feeling of unease. Things culminate in a suspenseful finale that is profoundly moving for its humanness. In the world of which le Carré writes, the espionage is almost irrelevant; it's merely a framework for what the writer really portrays: the human factor at the heart of his tales.

No, no big 'gotcha' moments or snazzy special effects here - just a tight, engrossing script brought to life by topnotch performances from all. Happily, the picture gains even more authenticity with its frequent use of location shooting: when logistically possible, scenes were filmed in the actual places le Carré describes in the novel.

However, the pace of 'Smiley's People' may turn off some of a more restless bent: the tale unfolds in a slow and Byzantine fashion, taking its time to reveal the clues. Hence, my only plea: if you're tempted to give up altogether in the first episode or two and seek some other fare less demanding of your brain - don't ! I would beg impatient viewers to stick with this through the end. It might entail greater heedfulness on your part to connect the dots and put the pieces together, but that challenge is par for the course in such masterfully crafted human tales of clandestine actions with not-so-clandestine consequences as this. It's also the reason why 'Smiley's People' satisfies so much more than the average whodunnit ever could.

For those unfamiliar with the numerous code names and terms casually tossed about in Smiley's world, fear not: the DVD includes a very helpful brochure with a glossary of terms, something you will reach for soon enough. The DVD also features an enlightening BBC interview in 2002 with author le Carré and filmographies of the cast.

'Smiley's People' is the second BBC television adaptation of le Carré's Smiley novels, the first being 'Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy', which introduced Alec Guinness as George Smiley. You can bet that that DVD currently tops my rent/borrow list.
 

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