If this was my One Word Review (as opposed to 5 mins.) then I would unhesitatingly describe this Oscar Nominated Documentary by Dror Morah as ‘maddening’.
Morah achieved an extraordinary feat in interviewing the six men who have headed up Israel’s very shadowy counter-terrorism agency Shin Bet. This ultra super-secretive organisation reports directly to the Prime Minister and is not answerable to Parliament in any way. These six Directors led the service up from 1980 until 2011 and without exception their testimony was so shockingly harrowing that it was difficult at times to grasp that this wasn’t some wild fictional movie that we were watching.
What makes their narratives that more potent is that each of the men are highly intelligent, articulate, and compelling but most of all strikingly compassionate. They never faltered from doing their duty confidently and with rock-solid nerves even though they each made it clear they were painfully aware that they were dealing with situations which demanded amoral behaviour.
Of all the atrocities that were discussed, there can be none worse than the Bus 300 incident in 1984 when some Palestinians hijacked a bus, and after they were captured they were summarily executed with their hands still tied behind their back. This was one of those occasions when Shin Bet was the scapegoat of the politicians who had been complicit in the bodged operation, and the director at the time, Avraham Shalom, had to resign so that they could keep their jobs.
The movie also takes great pains to point out that not all terrorists are Palestinian, and Shin Bet had to deal with Israeli extremist factions such as the right wing Jewish Underground. They were caught red-handed putting bombs on Palestinian buses which would have killed hundreds, but because of their links to the Israeli Establishment, they got off with minimal prison sentences.
One of the many fascinating revelations of the movie was the surprising fact that all of the Directors shared a belief that a Palestinian State should have been a priority to the point they showed their disdain for their politicians not doing more about it. Except Premier
Yitzhak Rabin, who of course paid with his own life at the hands of an assassin.
In a disputed region of the world that seems to be dominated by extremists of every persuasion, it is those of the far right that seem to be in the driving seat. It was interesting then to have one of the directors, Yaakov Peri, summarise it simply ‘when you retire you become a bit of a leftist’.
Moreh intersperses the interviews with news footage of the time which puts it all into context and it’s like a potted history since the Six Day War. There is no attempt to put forward any opposing points of view to those of the Shin Bet Commanders, but even if there were any credible challenges to the whole stream of detailed facts, there can still be no escaping from the inevitable conclusion from this remarkable film and that is simply there really can never be an real possibility of peace in this area. Never ever.
It is a astonishingly superb movie that has made so many people angry or shake their heads in despair. It is maddening that it will not change a single thing.
★★★★★★★★★★
