Before stepping into his metallic red-and-gold ensemble and playing the part of Iron Man, Robert Downey Jr led a diverse and unpredictable career that reflected his vibrant personal life. He jumped from Richard Attenborough’s biographical pieces to romantic comedies, and surprisingly, to an enduring character in the office sitcom, Ally McBeal. After exiting the Marvel Cinematic Universe, he resumed his journey, transiting from the spine-chilling Doctor Dolittle to the somewhat less terrifying character of Oppenheimer. He now emerges in the dark comedy, Post-Vietnam satire, The Sympathizer screening on Sky Atlantic at 9pm.
It is crucial at the very start to comprehend that The Sympathizer, a new limited series from director Park Chan-wook of Oldboy, isn’t another reflection on the sorrowful American history of Vietnam. It isn’t meant to be an Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket for the ‘Binge’ Generation.
Rather, this series, an adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, concentrates on the Vietnamese stuck in the Cold War conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union. The story commences in a Marxist rehabilitation prison after the fall of Saigon. Here, the lead character, The Captain, played by Hoa Xuande, is compelled to confess his felonies, including that he has started “thinking in English”.
He insists that he is an innocent man who diligently served as a double agent for the Communists. The storyline of The Sympathizer then reverts to the final phase of South Vietnam, with the Captain serving the high-ranking Saigon official, The General, played by Toan Le, and leading counter-intelligence efforts for the government. Simultaneously, he is working for the Viet Cong, although his ultimate allegiance appears uncertain amidst the turmoil.
Downey Jr steps in as Captain’s CIA mentor, Claude, channelling a Gene Hackman flair. He genuinely enjoys portraying a gruff American abroad. The Oscar-winning actor’s exhilarating journey, though, is just starting. Throughout the series, he takes on the guise of every white American The Captain meets on his espionage mission in the US. Characters brought to life by Downey Jr include a foolish scholar and a director akin to Francis Ford Coppola, filming a movie obviously inspired by Apocalypse Now.
Despite Downey Jr bagging an Oscar just a few weeks earlier, The Sympathizer was lamentably overlooked when it premiered in America in April. This is a prime example of TV excellence that mercilessly dismantles American colonialism, yet it’s certainly highbrow. It skews more towards the satirical nature of Catch-22 than the serious tone of Platoon, and its whimsical exploration of a lethal serious narrative results in a challenging learning curve. Stick with it though; Park Chan-wook has provided a blistering critique of colonialism, shedding light on its eroding impact on both the conquered and the conqueror.