Wednesday, 19 June 2013

The Gatekeepers (2012, Dir. Dror Moreh, Israel/France/Germany/Belgium) (Cert: 15/PG-13) ****


 

Starring: Ami Ayalom, Avi Dichter, Yuval Diskin

 

The Shin Bet, Israel’s secret service, is an extremely secretive organisation within the Israeli government. So secret that only its highest officials are known to the general public and there is some secrecy about their activities. Dror Moreh directs a series of interviews with various heads of the Shin Bet and the roles they played in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza and the West Bank.

 

An issue which has been raging for decades, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has proven a very complicated and divisive topic. Within The Gatekeepers however, there’s really only one perspective. That of various people connected with Israel’s secret service, the Shin Bet. However, what may seem like a rather one-sided take on the conflict is actually much more nuanced and balanced than might be expected. This isn’t a film to take sides, and it should be commended for that. Instead, it presents a reasoned account with balanced opinion. The flaw with The Gatekeepers is that despite the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has raged so fiercely and for so long, it is often overlooked outside of the affected area, and the film could’ve worked towards possibly clarifying certain historical elements. The film also goes for some moments of over-indulgent CGI sequences. However, the film is an effective and informative look at a contentious subject.

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