On April 29, the series Iosi, the repentant spy, directed by Daniel Burman (The broken embrace) and scripted by Sebastián Borensztein (The Odyssey of the Giles) arrives on Prime Video. It tells the story of José Pérez (played by Gustavo Bassani), an agent of the Argentine intelligence service with the mission of infiltrating the Jewish community for several years. In this task he is monitored by Claudia (Natalia Oreiro), another spy, anti-Semitic. Under the name of Iosi, he obtains documents that would have been used to perpetrate the worst attack on the American continent before the Twin Towers: the blowing up of the AMIA building in Buenos Aires in 1994. The material was also reportedly used in the attack on the Israeli Embassy two years earlier.
Before the premiere of the first of eight episodes, its protagonists talked to Infobae.
— How was the construction of characters as complex as Iosi, who lives in two worlds and Claudia, so clinging to her anti-Semitic ideas?
Bassani: —First I relied on the book [Iosi, the repentant spy, by Miriam Lewin and Horacio Lutzky]. It's amazing and there's a lot of information there. Then I got into the culture of the Jewish people: I read a lot of information from the patriarchs to the founding of the State of Israel, I learned about their meals, took Hebrew classes. And I relied heavily on what happened to the character: his demons, his quest for redemption. And that search for the truth, which challenges us Argentines so much as well.
Beyond the fact that it is an espionage thriller, I focused on seeing that journey of self-discovery. A person who starts out as Joseph and ends up being Iosi, who starts with a strong anti-Semitic feeling and ends up becoming another Jew. So it was truly a trip, beautiful as an actor, although we count the worst attacks in Latin America.
Oreiro: “My character is at the service of history, he articulates what is happening to Iosi's. She is an agent of the Argentine secret intelligence services: she is very distant for me, with a very distant personality and ideal, and that is why I found it exciting to be able to interpret it.
I knew what the most terrifying attacks that happened in Latin America were all about; in fact, I moved to Argentina in 1994, when it was AMIA. I was very aware of it but, like most of the people who travel in this country, we still do not know the causes of the culprits today. And I think that's what this series is also about a bit: about shining a little light on what happened and also talking about arms trafficking in the country. In addition, playing a spy in Argentina is something uncommon, so it was quite a challenge.
— How did they deal with this case that continues to affect sensibilities, in Argentina and in the world? Were you afraid at any time?
Oreiro: “Personally, yes. More than once I asked the directors, precisely, if they weren't afraid to mess with this sensitive subject, to look for the culprit or to try to understand what happened. My character also caused me a lot of rejection: she is an anti-Semitic woman, convinced of that cause she lives for. I'd just say a line and start crying. The directors told me: “But you're an actress, you're acting.” Obviously, actors are an instrument for the story to be told, but there is something in me that transcends the performer, and I was very moved by the situation.
The other day I met the author of the book and we talked about just that: how risky her role in publishing it and how risky the platform is with this spy thriller. But at one point that ends up being just what is attractive, what is interesting, what is disruptive: something that we all know, that we all live but that we still unfortunately do not know.
Do you remember what you were doing on the day of the AMIA attack?
Oreiro: —I remember it. I was 16 years old and it was very shocking. I had moved to Argentina and we were close to AMIA with my dad and mom looking for some things for where I was going to live. The stained glass window in the hardware store where we were. We didn't know what happened: if the subway had crashed, if a gas cylinder had exploded. Then we found out. I remember it as something very mobilizing. I have a very close link with the entire Jewish community and with Israel.
Bassani: “I was 12 years old, I grew up in a village, in Tristan Suarez. I remember my parents talking about it, that everything was on TV.
— Did you know the anti-Semitic legend with which the chiefs manipulate Iosi, the alleged international plot to create a Jewish state in Patagonia?
Bassani: —I'm surprised at the level of fiction that is handled in real life. That plan is known to be crazy. That's the way they manipulate Iosi: a journey to save their country and their nation. It still amazes me how reality surpasses fiction. We tell a fictional story based on real events and as an actor I am playing a character and I can't be afraid of that. I'm afraid the truth will never be known.
— Do you think this series can be a trigger to close this wound that is still open in Argentina?
Oreiro: — I think that fiction is fiction and that justice must be the one who seeks and judges, but often, through the media and film (in this case, series), news is put on the table that perhaps many people want to be forgotten. And in that sense I feel that [Iosi, the repentant spy] is going to put this back on the lips of many people who may not be so interested or who haven't listened so much. Difficult, though, isn't it? But he can collaborate.
— What do you think about this moment of the rise of Latin American films and series on platforms?
Bassani: —I think it's great for the region. Prime Video has original fictions in different countries that are very good: La jauría in Chile, Iosi in Argentina. This series is released in 240 countries.
Oreiro: —It seems to me that it speaks of the talent we have on this side. Argentina in particular has been a hotbed of stories, actors, producers, production. Even filming in Argentina, with the geographical possibilities that the country has, is incredible. They have come from the world to shoot here. And I also find it super interesting to tell local stories that are seen in the world. I find that cultural exchange very interesting, as we too have the possibility of watching a Polish, Hungarian, German series just a click away. In the eighties and nineties it was the soap opera that was exported, and now that place has been occupied by series.
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