The American writer Philip Roth did not have Donald Trump in mind when he wrote his novel “The plot against AmericaBut by adapting it for television, screenwriter David Simon made the link between this imaginary slippage of the United States towards fascism and the surprise electoral victory of the New York real estate promoter.
Creator of the monument series “The Wire“, David Simon had received the blessing of Philip Roth, who died in 2018, before launching an assault on this summit of American literature, published in 2004.
“The Plot Against America“, broadcast from Monday on the cable channel HBO in the United States, draws from the register of uchronia, which delivers an imaginary version of history, as it could have happened.
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A fashionable exercise, like that of dystopia (fiction of a totalitarian society), which has already been described in “The Master of the High Castle“, another adaptation of a cult novel, or more recently in the event series”Watchmen“.
But unlike most examples of the genre, radical, “The Plot“is only a slight departure from history, the real one.
Starting point of the series, the United States of 1940 as depicted by Philip Roth in his book and in the series by a very respectful David Simon, are in many ways faithful to what they really were .
And if he was never a Republican candidate for President of the United States, as in the series, aviator Charles Lindbergh was, at the time, a national figure and the face of the Committee for America d ‘on board (“America First Committee“), a powerful isolationist movement with up to 800,000 members.
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“The Plot Against America“even takes up the most famous political speech of this national hero, the first aviator to have crossed the Atlantic alone, in which he condemned the Nazi aggression but also accused Jews of wanting to drag the United States into war.
Just as it gradually turns History towards fiction, the mini-series in six episodes deconstructs the gradual shift of a society into barbarism.
To account for this progress as slow as it is relentless, David Simon, associated with his friend of “The Wire“, Ed Burns, like Philip Roth, chose to anchor his story in the daily life of an ordinary Jewish family in Newark (New Jersey), the writer’s hometown.
And by opting for a small number of characters, the series does not disperse and offers itself the possibility of digging while avoiding shortcuts.
“Allegory of our time“
“Roth’s book is at its strongest when it studies what members of this American Jewish family … do when confronted with the rise of fascism in their country.“David Simon said in an interview with NPR public radio.
“Where do you find yourself in an America that is transforming into something that is no longer quite a republic?“, he continues, claiming a parallel with the current era and the country ruled by Donald Trump.
“This is a bit like what is happening in the United States“worries former Baltimore Sun reporter, to whom we also owe”Treme“and”The Deuce“, also produced for HBO, just like”The Wire“.
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In 2013, David Simon had already been approached to set up the project, but he says he declined, explaining then: “I don’t believe the country can move in that direction yet“.
The election of Barack Obama, the evolution of American society, seemed to him to have relegated for good the old demons of America which are racism and bigotry.
“I was very wrong“, he recognizes today.
“It’s crazy how much (the novel) is an allegory of our political times“, considers the one who relied on a cast of high standing, including John Turturro as a rabbi instrumentalised by Charles Lindbergh.
“I am convinced that (…) we are on a path that leads us“to a shift towards authoritarianism, explains David Simon,”if we do not realize our vulnerability and the fragility of democracy“.
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