The genre of the thriller set in the Middle East is likely to be a rather popular one for filmmakers: It offers powerful scenes in the bazaars and in the maze of alleyways of Arab old towns, shady characters for both locals and foreigners (secret service agents, Islamists, glowing beauties). And you can let it rip – the Kalashnikovs and car bombs sit supposedly loose in the desert. However, the genre has a harder time with the criticism, which increasingly scrutinizes productions for orientalism, eurocentrism and other -isms. Because: Clichéd scenes on markets that are too colorful and in alleys that are too dark, shady characters, some of whom wear very badly glued-on beards , a bit too much an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.
The mini-series “Algiers Confidential” now mixes all the basic ingredients of the genre together – a German arms dealer named Peter Richter (Isaak Dentler) is sent to North Africa and greeted at the destination with this sentence: “You are in Algeria, everything is possible here. Even the worst”. And so it happens naturally. Richter, who even freshly showered in the hotel looks like a kidnap victim after a long period of imprisonment in a cellar, is kidnapped. Ralf Eley, a well-trained and good-looking liaison officer from the Federal Criminal Police Office (Ken Duken), tries to find him.
People who know the region not only from television have been involved here
Eley soon wonders if things are as simple as they first appear – namely, whether Richter was actually kidnapped by Islamists or whether the case is not a staging that serves a dark network to implement a completely different plan target. The episodes include: A corrupt gun lobbyist who celebrates lavish pool parties in his castle (Martin Brambach), an honest diplomat who has to disregard all official channels in her fight for the good (Anna Schudt), an Algerian judge who with Investigator Eley has a secret relationship and also some other unilluminated spots in the biography (Hania Amar).
The fact that this mixture, which smells badly of stereotypes, has nevertheless become quite enjoyable is partly due to the ensemble. The German-French co-production benefits from excellent actors with an Algerian background from France, while the German side contributes personnel from the Tatort league itself for supporting roles. On the other hand, it pays off that people who know the region not only from the terrifying images of the television news or from the view over the pool of an all-inclusive hotel also worked on the script, props and make-up. It seems all the more strange that “Algiers Confidential” rarely dares to let its characters speak in their mother tongue and to subtitle them accordingly. Which, however, leads to an unexpected punchline for a Middle East thriller: “Algiers Confidential” sounds most cliché when the CIA liaison man opens his mouth – and German with a chewing gum accent is heard.
Algiers Confidential. Four episodes, Arte, February 17, and in the media library