The Angel

The Angel (2018) tells the story of Ashraf Marwan, and the real story is considerably stranger than the film. Marwan was the son in law of Egyptian President Nasser and became a close adviser to his successor, Anwar Sadat. He was simultaneously Israeli intelligence's most valuable source, under the code name The Angel. Roughly fourteen hours before the 1973 war began he told the head of Mossad that fighting would start the next day. Two questions remain unresolved. First: was he genuinely working for Israel, or was he part of an Egyptian deception? The Mossad chief considered him the best agent he ever had. The head of Israeli military intelligence argued he was a double agent. Second: in 2007 he fell to his death from a fourth floor balcony in London, and whether he fell or was pushed has never been established. On the day he died he was due to meet the academic who had exposed him. The film preserves that ambiguity rather than resolving it, which is the right decision. Marwan Kenzari plays him. The production is mid scale, in the register of a spy thriller rather than an epic. Good for: spy films, Middle Eastern history, and true story adaptations. Less good for: some sections are confusing without background in the politics of the period. There is not much action.