I first ran across the BBC America production The State Within while I was on a sick day from work. The version on Amazon Prime, at least here in the U.S., is seven, fifty-minute episodes, which is exactly the right amount of time for marathoning something when you’re feeling too well to stay in bed but too poorly to do much more than sit in front of the television.
Available on Amazon Prime
The miniseries is written from the point of view of Sir Mark Brydon, the fictional U.K. Ambassador to the United States, and chronicles his entanglement in a web of political intrigue that stretches from the fictional country of Tyrgyzstan, to Washington D.C., to the heat of Florida. British audiences likely understood the plot as an allegory to the case of Craig Murray, a former ambassador who exposed human rights violations by intelligence agencies. As an American, I wasn’t familiar with this matter. Since it was set in 2006, I instead related it to a post-9/11 world that included a huge military-industrial complex with corporations like Blackwater Security.
Neither viewpoint is wrong. But while the borrowings are obvious, the twists and turns of this densely plotted mini-series are all its own — and kept me guessing the whole time.
As an American, I also viewed The State Within as a sharp critique of my own country from the viewpoint of one that’s considered a very close partner. It emphasized that Britons and Americans don’t always see things the same way, and as an American, parts of it made me uncomfortable. The writers didn’t hesitate to shine a critical light on anti-Muslim sentiment and capital punishment; nor did they shy away from including vignettes and scenes that would likely have been nixed had this been a purely American production. It was a bit of a wake-up call, but nowhere near enough to push me into turning off the television.
Although he appears to be too young for a role with the kind of gravitas needed in the U.K. Ambassador to the United States, it’s worth noting that Isaacs was in his early forties when he made The State Within; in other words, his actual age at the time was plausible. He was just wearing it well. He also does some of his best acting in this mini-series, easily segueing from a polished politician, to a gentle man capable of love, to the embodiment of righteous fury. Mark Brydon’s characterization does wear thin in places, but he did excellent work with what he had.
Isaacs is strongly supported by a strong cast that includes Sharon Gless, Ben Daniels, Genevieve O’Reilly, Lennie James, and Eva Birthistle. Roman Podhora also turns in a standout supporting performance as Correctional Officer Vernon Burchill. I never would have guessed he is Canadian had I not looked him up; he clearly did the necessary homework to accurately present a Southern good-old-boy with nuance, instead of letting it descend into cliché territory.
Some of the production values are a bit lower-quality than an American audience would expect (although I suspect that was a directorial decision, rather than a time or budget constraint), and The State Within will never join the ranks of “fine cinematic literature.” But for those who are interested in a political thriller that doesn’t require you to check your intelligence at the door — in fact, it rather demands the opposite — and doesn’t demand slavish adherence to patriotic or nationalist sentiment, I definitely recommend it. You won’t be wasting your time.