The Gatekeepers (2012)

A documentary featuring interviews with all surviving former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency whose activities and membership are closely held state secrets.

Director:

Dror Moreh

Stars:

Ami Ayalon, Avi Dichter, Yaakov Peri

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 7 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Ami Ayalon	...	Himself
Avi Dichter	...	Himself
Yuval Diskin	...	Himself
Carmi Gillon	...	Himself
Yaakov Peri	...	Himself
Avraham Shalom	...	Himself

Storyline

A documentary featuring interviews with all surviving former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency whose activities and membership are closely held state secrets.

---

Plot Keywords:

interview | arab israeli conflict | terror attack | palestinian | yitzhak rabin | 

---

Genres:

Documentary

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for violent content including disturbing images

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

Israel France Germany Belgium

Language:

English Hebrew

Release Date:

14 March 2013 (Singapore)

Also Known As:

Israel Confidential

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$61,552 (USA) (1 February 2013)

Gross:

$2,408,553 (USA) (14 June 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Mac Guff Ligne, Cinephil, Dror Moreh Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

101 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Connections

Featured in Maltin on Movies: Warm Bodies (2013)

User Reviews

Watch real power talk about itself.

"These are philosophical questions, not practical ones," Yaakov Peri

If the Arab-Israeli conflict interests you, then take a close look at The Gatekeepers, a first-rate documentary about Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency primarily responsible for Israel's complicated relationship with Palestine, for both good and bad.

Director Dror Moreh has the six former heads of the agency speak as candidly as is possible for men were cautious in the extreme about safety and negotiation, causing death, destruction, and reconstruction to people who just can't seem to settle their differences.

As a one-time head avers in the quote above, for the leaders of the agency, founded in 1949 immediately after Israel declared its independence, the decisions of Shin Bet most often depended on the tactic rather than the strategy. Such a mode led to the Bus 300 affair in 1984 with Israeli operatives beating two Arab bus hijackers to death upon orders from Avaraham Shalom, head of the agency at that time. The decision, according to him, was a matter of not having to deal with the terrorists in arrest. And you thought drones were cold.

Ruthless and efficient as Shin Bet is, it couldn't stop Israeli Prime Minister Yitzah Rabin's assassination in 1995, even when it knew the identity of the assassin beforehand. Yet the documentary's thrust, ruled as it is by seasoned intelligence officers who lack self-recrimination, is that the agency did what it had to do and was on the whole successful protecting Israel.

As the film moves toward its end and the elderly leaders ruminate, one states he has moved toward the left in his old age, suggesting that decisions to accept collateral damage to civilians were necessary but regrettable. As I watch in fascination, I could only think how nice to be able to live with oneself and shift on the political spectrum with barely a scratch.

The Gatekeepers, deservedly nominated for a 2012 Oscar, does what a good doc should do—lets the subjects talk for themselves and thereby cleanly exalt and exonerate themselves without directorial intrusion (except in the editing room, of course).

Closer to the truth of the occupation's collateral damage, Shalom evaluates himself and his fellow leaders: "We have become cruel to ourselves but mainly to the occupation."