Watch out, spoilers!
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In 1967-1968, the British series “The Prisoner” / The Prisoner (17 episodes) was filmed, which was a very great success and is even considered cult, it was quoted in books and other films, books were written on its basis, comics and computer games were created, Christopher Nolan and Ridley Scott considered the possibility of making their films, in 2009 a remake was shot, which, however, failed, audio dramas were staged on the Air Force. So, what explains the success of this series? It's such a somewhat absurd postmodern sci-fi spy story. The main character - an unnamed spy without a name (Patrick McGuhan) very sharply decides to leave the service, retire and leave, but not here it was, of course, he is followed and his plan goes ashes, while packing a suitcase he is put to sleep with gas, and he wakes up in a house, in a situation similar to his own house in London, but, looking out the window, he understands that he is in an unfamiliar place. This Village is inhabited by very strange inhabitants, more similar in clothes in their striped T-shirts and colorful cloaks on circus clowns. Residents have no names, all of them are assigned numbers - the higher in the hierarchy, the smaller the number, our hero is assigned number 6, commanded there by some managers under number 2, constantly changing. Above all, there is a number 1 that no one can see. In fact, this is a secret well-equipped prison, in which Number 6 is trying to find out the reason for his resignation, which may be related to his espionage activities and secrets known to him, i.e. the special services do not let their own clingy paws out of their clingy paws. But no one succeeds in finding out anything from him, despite the wide range of methods used, which at that time obviously looked fantastic and very technically advanced, now it looks anachronistic and naive. Number 6 is obsessed with escaping and makes numerous (but unsuccessful) attempts to escape the Village. In the end, he seems to succeed, but in some details it seems that this is not the case again. The finale of the series caused numerous outraged letters, the audience did not like it, so McGuhan was forced to hide for a while so that he was badly missed. The series was shot very well, including visually, especially since McGuen chose a very picturesque place in Sev for filming. Wales Portmerion, built in Italian style. Characters are often very grotesque, including Number 6 itself, sometimes sharply satirical. Individualist Number 6 confronts the manipulative system of duping that prevails in the Village, where everyone is (almost) unquestioningly subject to the System.
I watched the series with some even interest, but I can not say that it made a very strong impression on me, although many still write rave reviews. The idea is quite clear and even somewhere still relevant.