Guerrilla

The path that Marcus and Jas take turns into a slippery slope very quickly. All their idealism and youth get twisted into unrecognizable shapes. It’s a tragedy, an old tragedy told anew, with vigor and insight, sadness and resonance.

Anyone who was around as the bombast of the 1960s turned into the bombs of the 1970s will not be able to feel a sad nostalgia and a tragic sense of inevitability at this mesmerizing spectacle of naivete, idealism, kiddie bravado and ultimately the sheer stupidity of kids playing with fire. If you can remember the 1960s, goes the cliche, you weren't there. But in Guerrilla, the memories of the 1970s linger, and burn.

Performances by a stalwart cast ensure that Guerrilla works in spite of these shakier elements.

That Guerrilla makes this point so clear without feeling as if we’re in the pews is triumph enough. The fact that the Showtime series ends up such an increasingly addictive watch is an unforeseen but welcome bonus.

The series builds to that climax in an almost casual way, fleshing out some characters and plotlines but leaving others thin. That can be frustrating at times, but it’s all a sort of misdirection that makes the final episode all the more jolting.

The series assembles a lot of different approaches in its one story, with a touch of the didactic tone of “American Crime.” But Guerrilla’s remove makes its concerns more accessible.

At its best the series can be focused where every scene feels like it matters and is pushing the story at a great speed just through dialogue; in a few too many low-points, Guerrilla displays a narrative gluttony using characters who are ultimately secondary to the revolution.

While the relational drama is intrinsic to the show’s investigation of revolutionary character, there are some twists and turns that got my eyes rolling. Still, the various storylines coalesce to produce a suspenseful, surprising finale, and the arcs of Marcus and Jas are compelling.

The series is graced by extraordinary performances, especially from Elba, Ceesay, Pinto and Kinnear. The concept of the series, as well as the dialogue, forms a solid foundation for the kind of great character development we expect from a Ridley product. There are few improbable moments in the first two episodes when you feel Ridley trying just a little too hard to make his points--almost, but not quite, at the expense of character credibility.

While an all-sides view of this ideological battle makes for a complex understanding of the individual players, the farther that Guerrilla strays from this central cell and its counterparts, it does so onto shakier ground.

This is another prestigious series that's competently written and directed, dutifully performed, and politically astute, yet mired in numbing earnestness that dampens the most important element of all art: figurative revelation.

While Guerrilla has all the great writing and production design of a wonderful drama, it also suffers from some blatantly absurd creative choices that manage to undermine much of the show’s clout, otherwise.

A strident but affecting drama. [3-16 Apr 2017, p.19]