The Little Drummer Girl

Palestinian intelligence says she's loyal to their cause. Israeli counterintelligence says she's "bright, creative, underused, romantic and a liar." Academy Award? winner* Diane Keaton stars as Charlie, a repertory actress and Palestinian sympathizer who plays the role of - and for - her life when she's thrust onto the center stage of international espionage. Klaus Kinski and Yorgo Voyagis co-star as shrewd Israeli operatives who plot to use Charlie as bait to capture an elusive Palestinian terrorist (Sami Frey). Director George Roy Hill masterfully arranges the pieces of this cloak-and-dagger puzzle based on John le Carré's bestseller into a dazzling thriller racing full tilt through London, Munich, Athens, Jerusalem and Beirut. March to the enthralling beat of The Little Drummer Girl.piThis product is manufactured on demand using DVD-R recordable media. Amazon.com's standard return policy will apply./i/ppiThis product is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives./i/p

Middle-eastern terrorism provides the dense, perpetually timely context of IThe Little Drummer Girl/I, loyally adapted from John Le Carré's complex bestseller. It's slow going at first, taking pains to establish the tragically complicated plight of Charlie (Diane Keaton), a left-wing, pro-Palestinian actress, recruited by Israeli intelligence in 1981 to play the role of a lifetime: Once her loyalties are turned, she will lure a dominant Palestinian terrorist (Sami Frey) into a deadly trap. She's an unwitting pawn, vulnerable to romance (particularly with her Israeli recruiter, played with subtle conviction by Greek-born Yorgo Voyagis), and Keaton brings sympathetic naiveté to her character's potentially lethal dilemma. Klaus Kinski is arguably miscast as the Israeli intelligence chief, but viewers are more likely to stumble over the film's constant flow of intricate detail. IThe Little Drummer Girl/I is not always easy to follow, but attentive viewers will be rewarded, and the plot itself is, sadly, as relevant as ever. I--Jeff Shannon/I