THE PLOT AGAINST AMERICA
Sky Atlantic, 9pm
THIS is a compelling and timely alternate-history drama from the creator of The Wire and based on the Philip Roth novel.
Starring Winona Ryder, Zoe Kazan, John Turturro and Morgan Spector, it’s told from the perspective of the Levins, a working-class Jewish family based in New Jersey.
They can only watch and worry as aviator hero Charles Lindbergh ascends to the presidency of the United States, a xenophobic populist who turns the nation towards fascism and anti-semitism.
“These a ****** s, they’ve always been here,” says Monty, brother of Herman Levin. “Now they have permission to crawl out from under their rocks.”
The parallels with recent politics are not lost here.
As this double bill opener begins, family patriarch Herman (Spector) is expecting a promotion at work and takes his family to look at a big house in a nice neighbourhood.
But his wife Bess (Kazan) gets the feeling they won’t be all that welcome away from their tight-knit Jewish community.