STAR RATING: ***** Saturday Night **** Friday Night *** Friday Morning ** Sunday Night * Monday Morning
The true story of Ashraf Marwan (Marwan Kenzari), the son in law of President Nasser (Waleed Zuaiter), who feels unappreciated and put down by the father of his wife Mona (Maisa Abd Elhadi.) Feeling spurned, he drops some intelligence to the Israeli secret service, and finds himself propelled between two worlds. Following the death of Nasser, Marwan becomes an aide to the new president Anwar Sadat (Sassoon Gabai), as speculation mounts that Egypt is planning an attack on Israel.
Following on from 2012's The Iceman, director Ariel Vromen continues his rather morbid interest into dramatizing the lives of real life people who died in suspicious circumstances, in this depiction of the life of a man who came to broker peace between Cairo and Israel, making him a slightly less notorious individual than the character portrayed by Michael Shannon in the aforementioned 2012 film. Featuring a cast of unknowns, he has at least been able to replicate what could be perceived as real life people in that time and place, and crafted a film that will hold your attention if you can pay attention and keep up, rather than needing instant gratification.
The time period the film is set in is quite relevant to the story, and so it's something of a glitch on Vromen's part that the early 1970's backdrop it's set against is riddled with anachronisms and social behaviour not relevant to the time, some of which have been noted in the goofs section of the film's IMDB homepage. He could also have done with condensing it slightly, stretching as it does at over the two hour mark, as even the most studious viewer will only be able to concentrate for so long before succumbing to overload.
That said, it's still an enthralling and tense film (especially if you don't know how it worked out in real life!), impressively acted by it's unknown stars and shines a light on something of note in the troubled history of the Middle East. ***
The true story of Ashraf Marwan (Marwan Kenzari), the son in law of President Nasser (Waleed Zuaiter), who feels unappreciated and put down by the father of his wife Mona (Maisa Abd Elhadi.) Feeling spurned, he drops some intelligence to the Israeli secret service, and finds himself propelled between two worlds. Following the death of Nasser, Marwan becomes an aide to the new president Anwar Sadat (Sassoon Gabai), as speculation mounts that Egypt is planning an attack on Israel.
Following on from 2012's The Iceman, director Ariel Vromen continues his rather morbid interest into dramatizing the lives of real life people who died in suspicious circumstances, in this depiction of the life of a man who came to broker peace between Cairo and Israel, making him a slightly less notorious individual than the character portrayed by Michael Shannon in the aforementioned 2012 film. Featuring a cast of unknowns, he has at least been able to replicate what could be perceived as real life people in that time and place, and crafted a film that will hold your attention if you can pay attention and keep up, rather than needing instant gratification.
The time period the film is set in is quite relevant to the story, and so it's something of a glitch on Vromen's part that the early 1970's backdrop it's set against is riddled with anachronisms and social behaviour not relevant to the time, some of which have been noted in the goofs section of the film's IMDB homepage. He could also have done with condensing it slightly, stretching as it does at over the two hour mark, as even the most studious viewer will only be able to concentrate for so long before succumbing to overload.
That said, it's still an enthralling and tense film (especially if you don't know how it worked out in real life!), impressively acted by it's unknown stars and shines a light on something of note in the troubled history of the Middle East. ***