The Plot Against America review, Culture Whisper
‘There’s a lot of hate out there, and he knows how to tap into it.’
Nope, this statement is not about Donald Trump, but it might as well be. In The Plot Against America, a quietly unnerving alt-history drama, these words are spoken by the politically outspoken insurance salesman Herman Levin (Morgan Spector). Herman sees and hears that a populist candidate is running for president: Charles Lindbergh (Ben Cole), an antisemitic, isolationist aviator who decries the US involvement in WWII. (The real Lindbergh never ran for office, but was a famous presence.)
Contrary to history, Lindbergh not only runs for president but beats Franklin D Roosevelt at the elections. The series never shows him clearly; there’s a frightening Invisible Man quality to him. His ominous figure is relegated to shots from far away, or floating through dinner party shadows, or delivering the same America First speech over and over on projected newsreels and radio broadcasts.
The story instead shifts to a specific neighbourhood in New Jersey, home to a thriving Jewish community where the Levin family resides.
