
To add a context, after sowing the essence of fear in the Western world, Osama Bin Laden was the face of the terror movement in the Islamic world. However, Mughniyeh had already laid the foundation for his work. In the 1980s, during the stringent hegemony of Hezbollah, Mughniyeh was responsible for the rise of the Islamic Jihad Organization in Lebanon. It is said that he was a phantom terrorist who allegedly was involved in merciless bombings and kidnappings in America and other countries as well. The story of his life came to an end in 2008 through a devastating car bomb claimed to be orchestrated by Cia and Mossad. These events are portrayed in Showtimes’ new miniseries, Ghosts of Beirut. Multiple perspectives are presented, but none of them are unique or interesting making the series subpar headless drama.
The Israeli TV series “Ghosts of Beirut,” directed by Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz, recalls the story of the most wanted man in Israel from his birth to his role in the Lebanese civil war. The fictionalized version of the story is portrayed through various interviews with individuals working or having worked at CIA and other intelligence services. Describing Imad Mughniyeh, the main figure of the series, Mossad spymasters commentators during the interviews claimed him to be “absolute Machiavellian mastermind.” The show goes on to claim that he earned the notoriety of being termed “the Ghost”, a favorite of CIA and a top target of Mossad. The descriptions provided of him by the historians and spymasters suggest that he was as terrifying as he was brilliant. The blurb on the show’s titles speaks of him with equal disdain, referring to him as a “bad, bad dude.” When directed properly, however, he could prove to be extremely useful. The goal of the series seems to be to accurately represent the astounding undertakings by the CIA and the Mossad to capture him.
The show exhibits an equal balance of sympathy toward all sides, same as in “Fauda,” the Israeli army thriller series by Netflix, Issacharoff and Raz worked on before. While spending time with the half-a-dozen CIA and Mossad agents who either wish to kill or escape him, we also dive deep into his psyche and begin with Mughniyeh, the ambitious young adult (Amir Khoury) and later the somber middle-aged gentleman (Hisham Suleiman). He is a man that possesses immense passion and drives people, and already holds the capabilities of leading a movement. The first episode focuses on how he gets his first suicide bomber ready for the act, “Once you press the button, you shall gain access to paradise” he urges as his friend suffers from rage after slipping and losing the rest of his family to Israeli bombings.
While the show attempts its best to understand Mughniyeh and his reasons for his actions, the writers fail to depict the simultaneous side of the story. Either that, or it could be attributed to the countless attempts made over many years in efforts to track him down. Across four episodes, there are three distinct groups of protagonists, and they all appear to have little to no time to show anything beyond the most superficial components of their character.
Whether the character is Robert Ames played by Dermot Mulroney who is attempting to find a two-state solution while making deals, Garret Dillahunt as a CIA fixer William Buckley who is addicted to things he cannot have, or Dina Shihabi as an operative Lena who eventually gets the job done, the depth of all these characters can be summed up in a one-liner: ‘let’s find this guy.’ Though much of this is surface level, there are deeper motivations, for example Lena wanting to prove herself although she is a Lebanese Shia with a cousin in Hezbollah.
Greg Barker, the director who also worked on Ghosts of Rwanda and Sergio, is way too focused in the procedure and doesn’t let the interpersonal drama shine through which transcends any particular key. Lena’s internal struggles and the evolving relationship with the Mossad operative Teddy, played by Iddo Goldberg, is not given enough weight; Mughniyeh’s later interactions with new love interests feel forced and still attempts to make him more relatable. These gestures feel out of place and too mechanical, even though Barker spends too much time on the rest of the cast emphasizing the inhumanity of Mughniyeh’s actions. Those clips seem too intense and do not help add authority and rather try to smear the sense of dramatic progression.
Above all, it is more than clear that “Ghosts of Beirut” portrays a twist to the sociopolitical events and serves two purposes with a single action. While lack of support is shown towards people like Mughniyeh, a soft spot and sympathy is attempted to be shown, whereas there is no further analysis provided on how these people reached this key point in the world.
Imagining this elaborate and lavish lifestyle that Mughniyeh had, complete with a wife, children and an internal war with himself over the doom he was sending people to is baffling, especially with real CIA operatives claiming how terrible of a person he was. There is certainly a way to express this, but I’m certain there is no necessary preamble needed from either ‘side of the firing line’ for the gleeful takedown of a terrorist mastermind.
The craft is indeed impressive. And it is indeed bewildering how meticulous these once spies crafted plans and the amount of directors who were obsessed with watching these men meticulously pin red yarn onto an intricate map only to observe the b-roll containing bank footage security. But all these pieces seem so out of place, the centerpiece being them waiting in vain for four hours to detonate the bomb. Not much was mentioned about the Middle East’s complex conflicts. Oh sure, Mughniyeh is that monster. But what was the cost of the heroes before him? “Ghosts of Beirut” truly does not have the capacity to delve into that tragedy.
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