Criminal Minds, Mandy Patinkin and Israel

[Keit]

Some time ago I decided to watch "Criminal Minds" show, after hearing that FBI's profiler Jim Clemente worked as an adviser on some of the episodes.

Many of you probably saw the show, so this post isn't exactly a review, even if I do find the show interesting, in a sense, that they do try to get their facts right when it comes to pathology, and psychopathy in particular. But I still think that Frank Underwood from "House of Cards" and his wife take the prize for the "chilliest" psychos on TV. "Criminal Minds" has too much of a "horror movie" touch, imo (but I watched only two seasons so far), and apparently one of its leading stars thought the same.

For the first two seasons Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope fame) played a role of a seasoned profiler, when he suddenly dropped out. His wiki page says the following:

Patinkin was absent from a table read for Criminal Minds and did not return for a third season. The departure from the show was not due to contractual or salary matters, but over creative differences. He left apologetic letters for his fellow cast members explaining his reasons and wishing them luck. Many weeks before his departure, in a videotaped interview carried in the online magazine Monaco Revue, Patinkin told journalists at the Festival de Télévision de Monte-Carlo that he loathed violence on television and was uncomfortable with certain scenes in Criminal Minds. He called his choice to do Criminal Minds his "biggest public mistake", and stated that he "thought it was something very different. I never thought they were going to kill and rape all these women every night, every day, week after week, year after year. It was very destructive to my soul and my personality, and after that, I didn't think I would get to work in television again." [13]

Well, I can totally understand the sentiment, but then I remembered that Patinkin now does "Homeland" (a show based on Israeli series) and wondered how he could agree to be on a show that promotes another kind of horror and a lie. I never saw the show, so can't really comment on its content or Patinkin's role, but since he is really connected to and proud of his "Jewishness", I wanted to check if it is just another case of a Jew/Israeli with double standards.

And I was glad to find out, that I was wrong! Apparently, Mandy Patinkin openly opposes Israel's policies and even participated in the "Peace Now" conference in Israe and gave a very passionate and interesting talk there:

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Here are some quotes of things he said about Israel:

_http://www.jta.org/1998/04/21/archive/as-performer-and-as-jew-patinkin-has-strong-views-2

One Jewish celebrity missing from last week’s star- studded Hollywood tribute to Israel’s 50th birthday was Mandy Patinkin.

The quintessentially Jewish performer has a strong point of view when it comes to his Jewish life. In this case, it was politics that kept him away.

He declined an invitation to participate in the tribute, which was co-hosted by Kevin Costner and Michael Douglas, because he is deeply opposed to the current Israeli government’s attitudes toward the Middle East peace process.

“I would love to participate but I feel like my hands are tied,” he said of the show that aired April 15 on the CBS television network.

Sitting in his snug home office recently in the rambling Manhattan apartment he shares with his wife and two adolescent sons, Patinkin said of the stalled peace process: “It’s a tragedy, what’s happening. I pray with every ounce of my being that the peace process continues.

“It’s a symbol for the entire world, and if it’s not attended to, we’ll all have a heavy price to pay.”

_http://www.thejewishweek.com/news/breaking_news/mandy_patinkin_backs_actor_boycott_settlements_during_israel_trip

"Homeland" star Mandy Patinkin expressed solidarity with Israeli actors who refuse to perform in West Bank settlements.

Patinkin, who is in Israel to film the second season of the award-winning Showtime drama "Homeland," spent part of last week touring the West Bank and eastern Jerusalem with the organization Peace Now. He spoke at a Peace Now conference last Friday attended by about 700 participants.

“I call myself an American Disneyland Jew,” Patinkin, who is a member of the board of Americans for Peace Now, told the conference. “We can do whatever we want. We can say whatever we want. We are safe. We are never attacked. We live in freedom."

Patinkin visited the Ariel Cultural Center in the West Bank, which was at the center of boycotts by Israeli actors when it opened last fall. He signed a petition in support of the boycotting actors and directors.

He said he has been attacked by people in the United States for his pro-Palestinian views.

Patinkin also visited Hebron last week and was surprised by how much he believes it has changed since he first visited there 30 years ago, citing the streets closed to Palestinian vehicles and the shuttered storefronts.

It's clear that he is a sensitive person and that he lets his conscience to guide his choices. Maybe he is a bit naive, but then, it isn't a bad thing on itself, unless it is being used by pathologicals. Also, his reaction to the horrors presented in the "Criminal Minds" reminded me of SOTT. If you read SOTT on a daily basis, than you know how hard it is to read it sometimes, and to realize what kind of incredibly horrific world we live in, and that it is probably only a tip on an iceberg. But we must do it still in order to bear witness and also try to do something about it, no matter if this something is small.

Again, I am very happy to learn all of this about Mandy Patinkin.

 

[Beau]

Yeah, Criminal Minds tries to be a little too dramatic, it gets a little corny actually. They just put all 9 seasons up on Netflix here in the U.S., but from what I've seen it isn't very interested in much else besides the "case of the week" typical procedural. The horror movie touch that you said is really all there was to it, to me at least. Not much in the way of describing how they solve the cases, which is what interested me.

For the first two seasons Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope fame)

I think here you meant to say (The Princess Bride fame) ;)

Well, I can totally understand the sentiment, but then I remembered that Patinkin now does "Homeland" (a show based on Israeli series) and wondered how he could agree to be on a show that promotes another kind of horror and a lie. I never saw the show, so can't really comment on its content or Patinkin's role, but since he is really connected to and proud of his "Jewishness", I wanted to check if it is just another case of a Jew/Israeli with double standards.

I watched the first season of it, and even though it's portraying the idea of Islamic terrorism, it does a pretty good job of keeping things balanced, with plot points about the Americans blowing up children in the Middle East. It's not a violent show, it was more of a political thriller, so not really at all like Criminal Minds. Mandy does a really good job there. But again, it's operating under the premise that Al-Qaeda exists, and that it's a threat to attack within the borders of America.

 

[truth seeker]

For the first two seasons Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope fame)

I think here you meant to say (The Princess Bride fame) ;)

That's what I thought!

He's another person that I "like" and think has a conscience. I may be off, but I think he often tries to be careful with the roles he chooses and that allow him to spend as much time with his family as is possible in that business.

Slightly off topic, but he's a great Broadway singer too :D :

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4-kIkZVRw
_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysu-C4OQ_Xw

 

[Keit]

For the first two seasons Mandy Patinkin (Chicago Hope fame)

I think here you meant to say (The Princess Bride fame) ;)

That's what I thought!

Yes, of course, how could I forget!

Slightly off topic, but he's a great Broadway singer too :D :

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yv4-kIkZVRw
_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysu-C4OQ_Xw

This is awesome!

 

[Alana]

He told Corbert the other day that when he finishes Homeland he will run for PM of Israel. He is probably joking, he has a great sense of humor:

http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/183828/mandy-patinkin-wants-to-be-israels-next-prime-minister

Last time Mandy Patkinin appeared on The Colbert Report, he sang the Shehecheyanu during the on-air wedding of a couple whose wedding plans were thwarted because of the government shutdown (remember that?). How do you outdo that kind of performance? Apparently by pledging to run for Israel’s highest office.

Patinkin appeared on the show earlier this week to promote Homeland, whose fourth season premieres October 5 on Showtime. He discussed his beard (“It just brings me along wherever it goes”) and the state of the world (“it’s like they’re stealing your scripts,” Colbert says).

Sounding a lot like a rabbi giving a High Holiday sermon, Patinkin offers what he describes as an “antidote for it all.”

“I have a solution that I’ve come up with that I think will balance my participation in this world for however long I might have left to be in it. And I would like to know if you’d be interested in joining me.”

Colbert, of course, is in.

“As soon as this season finishes, Season 4 of Homeland, I am going to tear a page out of your book, your presidential campaign book, and I am going to enter myself to be possibly elected as the new prime minister of Israel.

He then asks Colbert to be his security advisor.

“I feel that with you as the head of security and me as the head of moral and ethical attitude towards humanity, the combination of the two might calm the region into on occasion laughing at itself.”

Colbert agrees, so long as he doesn’t actually have to go to the Middle East.

Patinkin, a board member of Americans for Peace Now (here he is in East Jerusalem on a 2012 trip organized by the group), has long been vocal about Israel’s politics and policies, so his passionate proposal on Colbert isn’t entirely surprising.

Still, it’s getting remarkably difficult to tell Mandy Patinkin apart from his fictional Homeland character Saul Berenson, a high-ranking CIA official who dispenses wise, weary advice about the Middle East. It must be the beard.

As for Homeland, I don't know if it got any better, but the first 5 episodes I watched were as if the script was written by Bush and Cheney - the official story on the war on terror. I thought it was a horrible propaganda show, I couldn't continue watching, even for the love story in it Is it still the same? Where are Mandy's complains about that propaganda?

 

[H-KQGE]

As for Homeland, I don't know if it got any better, but the first 5 episodes I watched were as if the script was written by Bush and Cheney - the official story on the war on terror. I thought it was a horrible propaganda show, I couldn't continue watching, even for the love story in it Is it still the same? Where are Mandy's complains about that propaganda?

I'm glad you wrote that as I was wondering if anyone had actually watched it for a sustained period. I don't know what season you were referring to but I felt the same as you. I watched the first two seasons when it first started just to see how long the propaganda would continue or if it would grow. I wasn't too concerned with the "white American's gone nuts" focal point of the show, nor the "love story." It was all that CIA skulduggery that was disturbing & droning people in foreign lands to death. ("collateral damage") And I agree, the underlying premise was that the "war on terror" (TM "psychopaths r us" all rights reserved) was not only factual (Saddam did it, wait, Osama, hang on its the Afghans & Iranians & so on) but justified. Cue constant reports around agencies that "Al someone or the other" ( just dismiss their names cuz they're all the same - cannon-fodder) is planning an imminent attack & blah blah. Watching "Carrie" & how stressed she became in season two, on top of the propaganda, began to seriously grate. I just wonder what would've happened if whasisface blew up the president (or was it vice president?) the alphabet agency men and the military in that bunker. This show won A LOT of awards you know. :(

 

[Gonzo]

I think Mandy Patinkin is a phenomenal actor. I don't watch a lot of television, but I've certainly followed both Criminal Minds and Homeland and have been drawn in by his characters in both shows. In Criminal Minds, it seemed his character was haunted by his experiences, perhaps a mirror to the actor's experience with some of the scenes in the show.

I found his character fascinating right from the start of Homeland. However, as the show progressed, it did concern me with how it rationalizes torture. I still can't tell if the show is written intentionally as a US propaganda tool or simply tries to accurately portray the US geopolitical perspective. There is a scene in an interrogation room when an agent stabs the hand of the person they're interrogating (I'm trying not to give away too much for those who haven't seen it). When Patinkin's character, Saul, asks the agent if the stabbing was a case of loss of control or simply acting out of control as a means of destabilizing the interviewee, he seemed satisfied with the agent's response that is was simply theatrics. It was a disturbing scene and I would have thought that Saul would have chastised the agent.

However, I can also imagine that, as a division chief, he may have to hide his emotions, lest he himself becomes a suspect in an organization that trusts no one. I imagine the war on terror attracted a lot of well-intentioned consumers of the official narrative to both military service as well as the security establishment. I can also imagine those at lower levels or ranks might not come across enough contradictory information to make them question the validity of their government's position. But those at higher levels would certainly see ethical, moral and legal lines get crossed. While authoritarian followers might buy into the rationale that the end justifies the means, a person of moderate intelligence and conscience would eventually have difficulty rectifying the disconnect between the words and deeds of these organizations.

I'm waiting to find out what happens next, to see if Saul's conscience bothers him. I can't discern yet if his character fully supports his agency's actions and justifications. But, if it turns out the character can rationalize the torture and violence created by his own agency, and in some cases, under his watch, then I think there's a disconnect between Mandy's reason for leaving Criminal Minds and his participating in Homeland.