A brainy thriller. Review on Homeland

Homeland is a drama/thriller series developed for American television and airs in India on Star World. I watched the first season of this series that has 12 episodes.

Story/Plot

Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer Carrey (Claire Danes) gets a tip from her informant that an American Prisoner of War has been ‘turned’ by Al-Qaeda to plot an attack on USA. Soon thereafter, a military raid finds a USA Marine Brody (Damian Lewis ) trapped for 8 years in captivity. Carrey doubts that Brody must be the threat and tries to prove so to her seniors while solving the puzzle.

Review

The serial is fairly detailed and all the characters are well written. The pace is slow at times and it is difficult to follow it if you are not aware of the Iraq-Afghanistan war basics. But still it is a very good content that is well written with good research going into developing the storyline. The incidents seem realistic enough and an attempt is made to portray the stress levels and pressures under which the CIA operates. I liked the way the secret is slowly unraveled with all loose ends in the first 10 episodes coming together in the 11th and 12th episodes. This is clearly not the end of the story as the finale indicates that a second season will be filmed.

The episodes are not children friendly as they contain some gory torture shots (not too many, but just enough as required by the story) and nudity. I watched the episodes online, I don’t know if they have cut those scenes for the Indian telecast.

Just as an aside, serials and movies like these which are made in USA asking tough questions about its own role in the wars against terror, get screening without much of a problem. I can’t see that happening in India at all. So much for the freedom of expression in a democracy!

Performances

One word: Superb. Everyone in this serial has given his/her best performance. Damian Lewis must bag an award for his portrayal of Brody. It almost feels like he was actually held captive and tortured for 8 years – it’s so real. The disturbed sleeps, horror dreams, frustration, suicidal tendencies … he plays perfectly a mentally ill and destroyed person. This is by far the best and most impactful on-screen portrayal of a suicidal person I have seen so far. Beats all the previous suicide bomber movies and novels out there. It is very depression inducing though, so beware.

Final Verdict

This is a quality TV series that is realistic and ambitious enough to deserve a look. Highly recommended.