The Angel -A history based movie -review

 

The Angel –movie review

    The Angel is the real story of a double agent named Ashraf Marwan. Ashraf was the son-in-law  of Egyptian President Gamal Abdul Nasser. The family, which included wife Mona and son, was in London. Ashraf was studying there. Nasser did not like Ashraf, who was addicted to alcohol and gambling. Nasser asked his daughter to divorce him ,but she disagreed. Ashraf, who knew  the internal secrets of the regime, planned to leak information to Israel for money and tried to contact the Israeli ambassador , but to no avail. Nasser was preparing for the Great War to reclaim the land occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six Day War. Nasser publicly ridiculed Ashraf's suggestion to leave the Soviet friendship and make friends with the United States. Nasser died of a heart attack shortly afterwards.

Arriving in Cairo, Ashraf obtained some crucial documents related to the corruption of the military chief and aid-de-camp Sami Sharaf from Nasser's room. Vice President Anwar Sadat later became president. He gave the president documents that could imprison Sami Sharaf and his associates who did not approve of Sadat. With that, Ashraf had become Anwar Sadat's favorite. It was during this time that Mossad , Israeli spy agency, contacted Ashraf tracking the  phone call he made to the Israeli embassy years back. That was the big turning point in his life. Ashraf becomes a double agent for leaking secrets to Israel. His nickname was Angel.

He has to work with a Canadian-Israeli Mossad agent known as Alex. Ashraf had given information on Sadat's move to seize the  Sinai Peninsula, but Sadat withdrawn the move  on both times. Ashraf’s  continuous efforts succeeded in making  Sadat  closer to the United States. Since  Ashraf's  information  went wrong for 2 times, Israel lost faith in Ashraf.  The defensive moves  on both time caused huge losses to Israel. They did not heed the third message of war. The war took place on the day of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jews. Egypt made great strides in the Sinai province in an unexpected war. Many died. Eventually, with the intervention of the United States, both countries agreed for a peace treaty at Camp David . Then ,there were peace for long  40 years . Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin  received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978.

 

Mona  believed that Ashraf had a secret affair with Diana, a British actress who had helped Ashraf in espionages. Hence,she divorced Ashraf.  But Ashraf was completely loyal to Mona. Ashraf died in 2007 after falling from his flat in London. Ashraf, who has been responsible for a long time peace, is revered as the national hero of Egypt and Israel.

Directed by Arel Vromen, the film is scripted by David Aratta and story  by Uri Bar Joseph. Marwan Kenzari (Ashraf), Maisa Elhadi (Mona), Waheed Zuaiter (Nassar), Sasson Gabai (Sadat) and Toby Kebbell) were the lead actors. No doubt, it’s worth to see as a history based film.  It  is available on Netflix.