Having read one book of his and watched a few movie adaptations of his writing, I knew that John le Carre is both very intelligent and very wise. I expected his speech/lecture to be really interesting, but I still wasn't prepared for what I got in An Evening with George Smiley.
In the first, longest part of the show, le Carre gives a speech about his most famous character, George Smiley. It is built around the character's creation and personality, and contains fragments of le Carre's newest book A Legacy of Spies. What could have been a dry speech is in fact a compelling and fascinating story of a remarkable man and the character he created. We hear deliberations on what makes people choose the career in the secret service. We get a touching feeling of nostalgia or old, much simpler time, when spies were nonviolent people. We see how freedom can be found in creating art, which in le Carre's case means writing novels. We get a feeling that the world's history is a history of constant turmoil, when he talks about the fall of the Berlin wall or the Cuba crisis. In case all of this got too dark, we also get a good measure of hilarious anecdotes about the actors le Carre worked with throughout the years when his books were being made into movies.
In the second part, a number of people involved in various movie and television projects based on le Carre's books talk about the man. Actors, screenwriters, and directors recall their meetings with le Carre, shedding light on this remarkable man and sharing their thoughts - sometimes really insightful ones - and feelings about his writing. We also get a handful of quite interesting behind-the-scenes stories from various sets, something which should interest any cinema fan.
The final part is le Carre talking with Jon Snow and answering questions asked by fans on Twitter and Facebook. Here again he discusses both his political views, his many adventures both as a spy and as a writer travelling around the world in order to gather material for his books, and his writing process. His every answer is deep and truly insightful and all of them give the viewer a feeling that he is fighting for what he believes in: a better, more humane world without the human suffering which moves him so deeply.
I was truly moved by the whole "show" and found le Carre to be a very charismatic man. It is clear that he believes in a better world. He is a fascinating person, a true British gentleman and listening to him is a pure pleasure. And I feel like I learned a thing or two along the way.
