Hacker Cinema
The Bureau
Le Bureau des légendes
2015 · TV series · 55 min episodes · 5 seasons
Created by Éric Rochant
Within the DGSE (General Directorate for External Security), a department called the Office Of Legends (BDL) forms and remote pilot the most important agents of the French intelligence services: Clandestine. Immersion in hostile country, their mission is to identify individuals who may be recruited as sources of information. Operating "under caption", that is to say in a fabricated identity from scratch, they live for many years in a permanent duplicity. Our hero just returned from a clandestine mission six years in Damascus. But contrary to what is required by safety rules, he does not abandon his legend and the identity under which he lived in Syria, thus putting in danger the whole system.
7 positive2 neutralfrom 9 commenters
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9 comments on Hacker News
A.k.a. "Le bureau des légendes": criminally underrated. Was available to view in Australia on SBS On Demand, where I serendipitously encountered it. It is right up there with the best of John LeCarré's film and television adaptations: "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy", "Smiley's People", "The Little Drummer Girl", etc.
Couldn't agree more, The Bureau had me hooked from start to finish. After the first episode, I basically binge-watched the entire 5 seasons non-stop. Subtitles are not an issue for me as I always have them on anyway. It takes a couple of episodes to get into it as they don't do out of their way to explain things. It's like you've been dropped into a job with an intelligence service with no training.
"Tehran" (Israeli spy thriller) is another really good spy series. You really get a feel for the oppressive environment in Iran under the thumb of the IRGC.
Also "The Spy" with Sascha Baron Cohen is excellent too.
Don’t think he can be talking about The Bureau either. It’s in my top ten all time TV shows.
If you haven't watched the TV series _The Bureau_, you should. That's the kind of plots they're using.
In France, the french secret services (DGSE) worked hand-in-hand with the production of a TV show called The Bureau (https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4063800).
The services were supposedly lacking diverse resources for both operators, admins and field agents of diverse backgrounds.
This series drew a very strong, credible and positive narrative that led to a massive number of people knocking at the doors of the DGSE to join the forces.
Propaganda? I think not. Well thought out recruitment strategy as entertainment? Most likely yes.
Is there a difference between the two? To be discussed... ;)
> the writer has mainly watched American movies that are easily accessible.
I highly recommend Scandinavian crime drama's they are under rated https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-OOpZitfd0
the work of Jurgen Haabermaster is also outstanding for all those who want to break out of the bland diet Hollywood serves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAlxNNvfvJs
on a serious note I found some fantastic serials that are not so well known and which I will remember for a long time (e.g. Indian "Sacred Games", Italian "Gomorrha" or "Suburra", British "Small Axe", USA "Snowfall", German "Dogs of Berlin" or "Dark", French "The Bureau"). In fact there wasn't a single show in the last 2 years where I felt I ended up wasting my time or were forced to bail out after S01E02 because it didn't resonate. The alternative to great serials is only a good book and from my pov a movie can never give the same depth as a good serial.
Netflix is musty, as someone said to me. After overthinking, musty indeed is the best term for most of Netflix.
Last movie I saw and liked at Netflix was The two popes. Netflix doesn't carry top series like
- Exit https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9612102/
- Le bureau des légendes https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4063800/
- Okkupert EDIT was/is available https://www.netflix.com/title/80092654
In the US & Canada Netflix has Babylon Berlin https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4378376/ but IMHO it is not up to above three.
Looking forward to be able to watch hbo-europe.com documentaries like
- The Other Side of Everything https://www.othersideofeverything.com/
- Lessons of Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rM-wAlSFHZQ
Another link : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4063800/
For those who do not know the show, it shares the same ambiance as Homeland, but it is far more realistic and disturbing.
Die Wand (The Wall, 2012, Austria) - A woman on holiday in the mountains is suddenly trapped behind an invisible wall, with only animals as companions... The movie goes deep into human nature, how we live with nature and other life forms, and is comparably profound with the best writing on those subjects. Incredible.
The Sea That Thinks (2000, Netherlands) - About the self, self-reference, meta-(meta-meta-)narrative, consciousness, illusion.. Wonderfully well-constructed.
2 of Kurosawa's: Dersu Uzala (1974), the story of the friendship of a Russian military map-maker and a Siberian hunter. Fascinating encounter of city man and nomadic hunter, two incompatible modes of living. (I think Yoda is based on Dersu, as Star Wars was based on Hidden Fortress) ..and Ikiru (1952), about a boring goverment office worker who learns he's dying and wants to do something meaningful with his life at last.
Series: My favourites are from France (Engrenages, Les hommes de l’ombre, Le Bureau des Légendes, Un Village Français) and Denmark (Borgen, Arvingerne, Herrens veje/Ride Upon the Storm). Maybe Un Village Français gets my top vote, the epic (7 seasons) story of a French village under Nazi occupation - the politicians, Resistance, communists, militia, Nazis, collaborators, Jews, businessmen etc. Unforgettably touching.