93% The Gatekeepers

All Critics (41) | Top Critics (17) | Fresh (38) | Rotten (3)

A sobering but welcome dose of honesty regarding issues and events that have otherwise been shrouded in secrecy and overheated rhetoric.

Israelis, generally speaking, tend to be tough, but the men who've commanded Shin Bet, Israel's secret service, are in a whole other category.

A lesser filmmaker might've been tripped up by such a narrow focus. A lesser filmmaker might've misjudged the melange of archival footage, fabricated surveillance footage and talking heads, which Moreh handles with a blend of cinematic flash and tact.

The film makes explicit and implicit endorsements. The strategy of vengeance and overkill is ineffective and leads Israel to horrific behavior described only through metaphor.

The subjects' openness is refreshing - and sometimes frightening.

A feat - of access and of passionate and appropriately unsettling political commentary.

Filmmaker Dror Moreh gives a unique look, from those in the know, of the inner workings of Israel's home intelligence service.

As Moreh probes the men, we, whether we agree with them or not, find ourselves drawn into their moral maze in all of its complexity.

This is a film that leaves a knot in the stomach, and no easy solutions as to how to get rid of it.

The 'other' Oscar-nominated feature about a war on terror, Dror Moreh's documentary The Gatekeepers proves more intellectually engaging than Hollywood's Zero Dark Thirty, and at least as unsettling.

Important and incomplete.

A blunt, clear-eyed, first-hand take on decades of Middle Eastern history, from practically the founding of the Jewish state up through the recent fits and starts of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Moreh has assembled a thorough, evenhanded and fascinating examination of people and operations straight out of a spy novel.

This brave documentary draws a line in the sand. One just wishes Moreh had asked these men what they were doing to change the situation now other than having changed their minds.

From the moment you hear one of these former insiders admitting his misgivings over an act of violence he perpetrated, you can't help but be drawn in.

The access boggles the mind, and some of the stories are riveting.

[T]houghtfully examines the difficulties of protecting a democracy from internal enemies. . .with realpolitik towards peace [and] repeated criticism of government leaders.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_gatekeepers_2012/

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