In recent years there have been some interesting - and scary - television productions about the dangers of what we might call life in "the surveillance society."
"The Code," which was produced in Australia, was - for example - a brilliant examination of life in a society where privacy is no longer an option. "The Last Enemy" is cut from the same cloth and it, too, is brilliant.
With a cast led by Benedict Cumberbatch, it tells the story of an aid worker on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border who becomes concerned when he begins seeing patients with a mysterious disease that is always fatal. When his SUV is blown up after apparently hitting a land mine his brother, a reclusive mathematician living in China, flies home to England to attend the funeral. Once there he finds himself being recruited by the government to help push through new legislation that will allow the police and security agencies to monitor people 24/7 in the name of public safety.
And therein hangs a tale of love, betrayal, murder, and the frightening lengths governments will go to in order to cover up unethical and immoral experiments on men, women and children. I will warn you now that this is not a series for everyone. If, for example, you are someone who believes that the government has the right to spy on its citizens in the name of security, then this is not a program for you. Likewise, if you believe that it is okay to trade your rights for safety, this is not a series that you should watch.
If, however, you believe - as Ben Franklin did - that when you trade rights for safety you end up with neither, then you will find this 5-part series fascinating and frightening at the same time.
That's especially true now that the United States and other countries are pushing new laws to restrict immigration as a means of preventing terrorist attacks and militarizing police forces in the name of security.
Cumberbatch, as mathematician Stephen Ezard, is brilliant in the role as are the rest of the cast. I would single out Eva Birthistle, who plays Stephen's former girlfriend, for additional praise, however, because her portrayal of the junior government minister seemingly unaware of the administration's dirty tricks is perfectly done and all the more frightening because you can see men and women just like her on television screens around the world daily pushing and prodding for ever-increasing surveillance initiatives.
Directed by Iain B. MacDonald, the series moves along at a nice pace and the cinematography is well done.
Definitely a 5-star series that raises important social, political, and moral questions.
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