Right at the beginning, Gonen Ben Yitzhak says, “The first day handling him was the first day
of the end of my career.” And Mosab Hassan Yousef tells us, “To collaborate with Israel is the most
shameful thing you can do in my culture.” They hook us right from the
opening of the film, not just because of the subject, but because of their
character. These are two people that captivate us from the first moments they
are on screen. We do learn background information about Mosab, that Hamas (the
Palestinian Islamic resistance movement) meant everything to his father, and
that his father was taken from their home by Israeli soldiers and not returned
for a year and a half. Then, six hours after returning home, he was arrested
again. Mosab, understandably, tells us that from that moment he hated the
Israeli soldiers and wanted revenge. Listen to how eloquently he states it: “My father did not teach me how to hate, but
I was seventeen and I didn’t know how not to feel that way.”
Mosab purchased guns with revenge in mind, and soon was
arrested, since he was under surveillance because of who his father was. And
it’s this arrest that really gets the story moving forward, for it was in
prison – after being tortured – that he was asked to work for the Israelis. He
was then moved to the Hamas section of the prison. All of this material, by the
way, is absolutely fascinating, what happens inside the prison, how the Hamas
tortured other prisoners they believed were spying on them for the Israelis,
and so on. And this, of course, is what opened Mosab’s eyes to the organization
that his own father had gone to prison to support. “So now I don’t think about revenge anymore, because I don’t know what
I’m fighting for.”
When Mosab was released from prison, he became his
father’s assistant, and essentially functioned as the gateway to his father.
“My dad had no clue what I was doing,” he tells us. And he talks about needing
to develop his own moral code, not that of his father or Hamas, and not that of
the Israelis. It’s interesting that he tried to protect his father, while also
betraying him.
And again, the story is told from two perspectives, and
Gonen Ben Yitzhak is as interesting an individual as Mosab. He is candid as he
tells us, “It crossed my mind when I
bring someone to the meeting, basically I am destroying his life.” He also
says: “For me as a handler, my sources are
somehow like toys. You know, this is a big game and I’m a player.” In spite
of his saying that, he does come across as human and likeable. And the relationship
between a handler and his recruit is fascinating. This is a completely
engrossing and thrilling film, and ultimately is a story of hope.
Special Features
The DVD contains a segment from a television program
featuring an interview with Nadav Schirman, who talks about the effect the book
Son Of Hamas had on him, how he was
intrigued by the relationship between the two men, and how he went about
interviewing the two men. He talks a bit about his other films as well. For me,
what’s most interesting is when he talks about the sources of the archival
footage used in the film. This is approximately thirty minutes. The special
features also include a segment from an Israeli television news program,
featuring an interview with Mosab Hassan Yousef in which he talks about being
recruited and about his goals and outlook. This is approximately seven minutes.
The special features also include approximately nine and
half minutes of bonus footage, more from the interviews with Mosab Hassan
Yousef and Gonen Ben Yitzhak. There is also a gallery of storyboard art and the
film’s trailer. The DVD also includes a booklet with a piece on the film
written by Anthony Kaufman.
The Green Prince
was directed by Nadav Schirman, and was released on DVD on January 20, 2015
through Music Box Films.
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