Sindre Kaspersen Israeli cinematographer and director Dror Moreh's documentary feature which he co-produced, premiered at the Jerusalem Film Festival in 2012, was shot on locations in Israel and is an Israel-France-Belgium-Germany co-production which was produced by producers Estelle Fialon and Philippe Kowasky. It tells the story about six former heads of the Israeli secret intelligence agency governed by Israel's president called Shin Bet which was founded in the late 1940s, who are assigned to defend their nation against terrorism, espionage and the release of state secrets. Distinctly and precisely directed by Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh, this finely paced documentary feature which is narrated interchangeably from the interviewees' viewpoints, draws an exploring and densely informative portrayal of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict and of some of the men who were and still is involved in it. While notable for its reverent cinematography by cinematographer Avner Shahat and production design by production designer Doron Koren, this narrative-driven story about foreign policy and contrary ideologies where the significantly educated and experienced men in question elaborate on their role within their private organization, their recruitment of agents, their communication with and interrogation of terrorists who regard them as terrorists, their relation with Palestine and with the Knesset and former presidents and prime ministers, their views on their nation's political history and their tactical methods, becomes a rarely interactive negotiation of power between the interviewees who usually are the interviewers and the interviewer which leads to objective conversations regarding what Palestine has done to Israel and vice-versa, presents a democratic approach which contradicts the anarchistic history it examines and the Israel-Palestine situation and leaves the still crucial questions regarding the possibility of breaking the bloodline of vengeance, of a balance of power, of a lasting armistice and how to communicate humanity were tactics rule, and contains a great and timely instrumental score. This somewhat philosophical, tangible and sarcastically humorous documentary feature which is set in Israel in the 21st century, which plays on imagination, intimidation and authority, which reflects on the history of Israel and the history of their conflict with Palestine from the Six-Day War in 1967 and where men talk about their highly confidential work for the first time, is impelled and reinforced by its fragmented narrative structure, subtle continuity, reenactments, archival footage, distinct psychological atmosphere and interviews. A cinematically commendable study of history.

crackmassage I already knew the bare outlines of Israeli politics and modern Israel's history from reading news magazines over years and from history class-- but this goes quite a bit into detail of several crucial events with archival footage of the various house bombings, assassinations, bus suicide bombings, and street riots superimposed over the words of the leaders of Shin Bet itself-- getting all their own words in actual interviews is an incredible accomplishment if you think about it. There have only been six leaders of this Israeli national security force in Modern Israel's history. All six spoke candidly to interviewers here. While at first I thought the film was starting to get very detailed and even long winded, this misgiving vanished as more unfolds and footage is shown of families being raided in the night-- arrests made, bomb victim human beings-- the movie zeroes in on its focus and holds it laser-beam tight. By the last half hour I found the focus of the documentary powerful, artfully and factually describing as skilled editing of images is seen and interviews heard I can't think of a more powerful documentary I've seen, really. The head of Shin Bet is something like the head of the US's CIA and FBI rolled into one-- and clearly they are very powerful commanders who make life and death decisions which effect people directly. - the movie subtly examines both the morality and the effectiveness of both tactical and strategic strikes on the opposition to Israel's government and statehood--zeroing in on internal Israeli and West Bank events rather than anti-Israel sentiment in the larger Arab world. The film is brilliantly directed.

peter henderson According to Wikipedia, "The Gatekeepers", director, Dror Moreh, wanted to understand how Israel's Shin Bet security agency worked. He contacted a former head of the Shin Bet (a "Gatekeeper,)" Ami Ayalon, who had since been elected to the Knesset for the Labor Party. Ayalon agreed to participate, and helped Moreh contact the other surviving former heads of the Shin BetMy Response to The Gatekeepers #1: Blame the politicians - not the spiesAvraham Shalom, one of the Gatekeepers after the 1967 war believed, like many, that the conquered territories would be returned to their former occupants. He says, "The problem is that the security agency executives are so busy conducting the activities of their organisations that they only get to think about these things when they are on holidays, or when they retire" (my paraphrase). The problems is that " There was no strategy, just tactics…As soon as we stopped dealing with the Palestinian state and started dealing with terrorism,… we forgot about the Palestinian issue"My Response to The Gatekeepers #2: Politicians pander to the prevailing popular opinion - in other words - what they think the people will vote for. Blame the people, not the politiciansI have a feeling that if Israelis took the words of their prophets more seriously they would have a nicer country to live in. Take the words of Jeremiah, for example…"If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly,  if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow… then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your ancestors for ever and ever.  But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless." (chapter 7:5-8)"All six former heads of Shin Bet argue – to varying degrees – that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land is bad for the state of Israel." Carmi Gillon, head of Shin Bet from 1994 to 1996, suggests that the deceptive words of the extremists led to a serious attempt to blow up the Muslim Dome of the Rock mosque, which stands on the site of the old Temple of Solomon. Shin Bet operatives were able to interrupt it.He suggests that such an act would have united Muslims around the world, from Arabia to Indonesia, to take up arms against Israelis, and lay siege to Zion. Such an occurrence is referred to in Israel's prophetic scriptures as "the Great Tribulation".It takes a bit of background to get an understanding of what that involves.The biblical prophets sought to explain the destruction of Israel by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires as part of an atoning process that would remake the people of Israel in a way that was acceptable to Jahweh. It is likened to the way in which precious metals are refined by having the ore (dross, impurities) burnt off. The process is described in Deuteronomy chapters 28 to 30. That theme is taken up by the prophet Jeremiah in chapters 29 to 31, in which the supposedly new covenant he discusses seems to be identical with the one Jahweh negotiated with MosesBoth the Moses and Jeremiah covenants involve people adopting a righteous mindset - or to use the rather more poetic language employed in the bible - having the words of the Law "written upon their hearts". It is the same righteous mindset that Jahweh ascribed to Abraham in Genesis 26:5, "because Abraham obeyed me and did everything I required of him, keeping my commands, my decrees and my instructions." What the expression, "the Law written upon their hearts" actually means was summarised by Hillel as "the ethic of reciprocity", or "Golden Rule": "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." (this is another quote from Wikipedia - go and read) The Israeli prophets are obsessed with the idea that this atonement, this refinement ,will take place in three stages. 1 the Great Tribulation of Israel 2 the Day of the Lord 3 the prosperity of the Messianic reign in Zion of David's sonThe Day of the Lord occurs when God intervenes in human history, delivering Jerusalem from the armies of the nations that have besieged it (the great tribulation), then places a descendant of King David on the throne in Jerusalem.The Roman expulsions of Jews from Israel (70 and 138 CE) occurred after Jewish extremists decided to speed up that process by getting involved in revolutionary politics. The book and film of Chaim Potok's, "The Chosen" depict this idea when the fictional, orthodox Rebbe Saunders launches into a tirade against the efforts of post World War II Zionists to re-create a state of Israel. I would paraphrase it as, "Hitler killed Jewish bodies - these Zionists will kill the Jewish soul", but you would probably be better advised to read the book or see the film.It seems that the extremists want to do it all again, but this time against the Muslims rather than the Romans. Carmi Gillon notes that these sentiments culminated in the assassination of prime minister Rabin, and emasculated the efforts of Israeli officials at peace talks from Oslo to the present day. All the Gatekeepers agree such talks must be continued in a serious manner.Spielberg's film, "Munich" highlighted the problem of Israeli born Jews leaving Israel.Maybe its time they stayed home and discovered for themselves what it means to have Moses' Law written upon their hearts. Not what some medieval commentator says. Not what some critical text analysis says. But what it means "not to do what is hateful to your fellow.". Then maybe they should get themselves elected.

hebarrettjr-527-7416 I haven't watched this yet, but am already upset that the English is missing in action. Maybe it's me but I feel that when a movie is listed -- by IMDb, no less - - as being in English and Hebrew, there should be some parity. THIS movie (from my skimming through it) appears to be at least 90% in Hebrew. Actually the only English line I've actually HEARD was in the trailer. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the ONLY English line... :-(I WILL plod through and READ this movie (you can't actually watch what's happening when you have to read the subtitles) because of the subject matter. I suspect many others will as well. But it WOULD be nice to KNOW that I have to read a movie instead of watching it. IJS...