The Gatekeepers
Director: Dror Moreh
Managing to get the heads of Israel’s top secret service agency, Shin Bet, to discuss their counter-insurgency strategies against the occupied territories is a feat of almost impossible dimensions, but what they reveal in their moments of candor is worth the hours the Producers must have put into convincing them to appear.
In any normal situation where the US isn’t the client State, these men would be war criminals for their tactics against occupied Palestinians, but under America’s protection, these men get to talk the philosophy of their actions. If you are able to pass the awfulness of that realization, this documentary gives an incredible insight int the minds of those tasked with policing Israel’s illegal occupation.
It is expertly put together and a truly well crafted doco, but what is eye opening is the honest appraisal of the long term strategy of how Israel is treating Palestinians. Each of them honestly point out that all they are doing is generating righteous grievance and a never ending cycle of violence and hate that drives vengeance.
These old men like rasping lizards who have overseen torture and terrible deeds to guarantee Israel’s ongoing occupation admitting under the unblinking eye of the camera lens that all they have done has only made things worse is a gripping moment of clarity made more depressing by seeing no end in sight.
It is an important documentary that must be viewed by anyone wanting a serious understanding of the complexities behind the injustice of the wound that has become the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
4 stars
