Review of The Gatekeepers (2012) by Robin M — 19 Jul 2013

(3/5 stars).

Would President Trayvon be moved to change some of his policies, particularly with respect to his unchecked drone program, if he were to watch this movie? I doubt it. But he should watch it anyway. Certainly a big part of this film's appeal should be the realization that the ongoing violence in the middle east isn't restricted there. It affects everyone, everywhere.

Dror Moreh draws inspiration from Errol Morris' 'The Fog of War' in which that filmmaker dove into the decision-making mind of Robert McNamara. This film is equally compelling, diving into seven separate minds which might even be construed as the evolution of a single mind. These minds are seven former heads of Shin Bet, the secretive agency charged with the responsibility of preventing terrorism in Israel and its occupied territories, speaking on camera for the first time ever.

There's plenty of hand-wringing and candid confessions of mistakes made (bashing in the brains of the number 300 bus hijackers, dropping a one ton bomb in the midst of a heavily populated controlled territory in the Shehadeh incident, failing to predict the rise of the first intifada, failing to protect Yitzhak Rabin, the questionability of assassinating Ayyash during a time of relative calm in relations, and the botched attempt to take out Yassin are all covered).

In case you're daft, the lessons are hammered home by the seven chapter titles: No Strategy Just Tactics, Forget about Morality, One Man's Terrorist is Another Man's Freedom Fighter, Our Own Flesh and Blood, Victory is to See You Suffer, Collateral Damage, The Old Man at the End of the Corridor. The fourth chapter is perhaps the most fascinating; That the Dome of the Rock is still standing is testament to the SB's rebirth after Rabin's assassination and its effectiveness in dealing with domestic terrorist threats from hardline Jews.

Still, the most shocking revelation in this film is that any of these revelations come as revelations at all. It is no more satisfying to hear Avraham Shalom, the oldest, most conservative, and most hardened of the SB leaders, admit that "we've become cruel" than it was to hear Robert McNamara acknowledge that he was completely wrong in his calculations concerning the Vietnam War. Rather, one comes away with the disheartening sense that there is a 100% understanding of the problem and 0% willingness to do what is necessary.

To whit, a key nugget of wisdom is imparted by Ami Ayalon, one of the more recent SB leaders, when he paraphrases the German-Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz: "victory is simply the creation of a better political reality." So long as either side continues to look at the problem as a zero-sum game, there can be no peace.

I was shocked and impressed to hear the film-maker use the "A" word during the Q&A in the DVD's bonus features. (That would be 'apartheid' -- a word most Israelis meticulously avoid using when referring to the occupation). But I nevertheless have to deduct one star for failing to take a stand against tor.. er I mean enhanced interrogation.