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The Gatekeepers

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The Gatekeepers

PG-13

Released Feb 1, 2013

1h 36m

Documentary

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Popcornmeter

94%

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111 Reviews

79%

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10,000+ Ratings

Six former heads of Israel's secret service agency, the Shin Bet, discuss their organization's successes and failures since the Six Day War in 1967.

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Critics Consensus

Strikingly stark, brutally honest, and rivetingly assembled, The Gatekeepers offers essential perspective on a seemingly intractable war from some of the men who fought it.

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J. Hoberman

ARTINFO.com

Six smart, tough guys, tightly framed and talking to the camera: Israeli filmmaker Dror Moreh's compelling Oscar-nominated doc The Gatekeepers gives the voice of experience a human face.

Feb 22, 2019

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Trevor Johnston

Sight & Sound

With such incendiary opinion on offer, it might have been a temptation for Moreh to lay out these testimonies end to end... What makes the film so satisfying, though, is the appreciable craft with which the material is organized and presented.

Jul 31, 2018

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Nicolas Rapold

Film Comment Magazine

Moreh's interviewees span generations, from elder statesman Avraham Shalom (mastermind of the 1960 Adolf Eichmann grab) to most recent spook-in-chief Yuval Diskin. Each displays a disarming mix of even-voiced candor and respect for talk-it-out diplomacy.

Jul 1, 2013

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Michael J. Casey

Michael J. Cinema

Divided into seven segments, 'The Gatekeepers' does not stick to a chronological telling of history but instead hopscotches around to establish a throughline of morality, which is what director Dror Moreh seems to be most interested in.

Rated: 4/5

Nov 18, 2021

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Joanne Laurier

World Socialist Web Site

Whatever his political past and motives, however, Moreh has directed a valuable and insightful work.

Feb 28, 2021

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Brian D. Johnson

Maclean's Magazine

The result is a mesmerizing documentary that distills some simple, devastating truths from a vast swath of complicated history.

Aug 14, 2019

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Georgan G

Which ever side you may support, all terrorism is based on anger from the opposite's methods. It's a sad commentary that this region is so continuously at war or dealing with each other's terrorists.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/19/24

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Kyle M

Mostly for those politically invested with awareness towards the subject matter as the informational delivery lacks alienated inclusion which therefore lost engagement, especially since it's timely dated and doesn't differentiate much from similar documentaries covering the war on terrorism during that particular period despite being another branch. However, with that being said, the main takeaway for those outside as mentioned is the thought-provoking aspect fueling criticism towards the "strategic" tactics, joining the questioning towards intelligence that tends to trigger reactions and led to unintentionally grave consequences, and the interviewed perspectives unveils that realization. (B)

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/17/23

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Audience Member

6 former heads of Israel's secret svce the Shin Bet talking about the state of Israel after 67, the rise & fall of the peace accord, and the state its in today :sobering last words, "Israel may have won every single battle, but it's lost the war."

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/02/23

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Audience Member

Insightful and informative.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

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Audience Member

Fascinating look into the internal workings of Israeli intelligence since l967--which at the core contains a serious indictment of the occupation concept itself. This is worthy of all of our attentions, particularly in light of recent events. I commend it to your attention

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/16/23

Full Review

Audience Member

If you're an international relations major, which I am, this movie doesn't give you much that you couldn't have just picked up from McNamara's Fog of War movie or from actually reading and researching and doing your homework and all that. It was overhyped, but it's still passable entertainment/infotainment/information/whatever you want to call it. Shrug.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

Full Review

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Dror Moreh

Director

Ami Ayalon

Self

Avi Dichter

Self

Dror Moreh

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Estelle Fialon

Producer

Philippa Kowarsky

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Synopsis

Six former heads of Israel's secret service agency, the Shin Bet, discuss their organization's successes and failures since the Six Day War in 1967.

Director: Dror Moreh
Producer: Dror Moreh, Estelle Fialon, Philippa Kowarsky
Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
Production Co: Cinephil, Les Films du Poisson
Rating: PG-13 (Violent Content|Disturbing Images)
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Hebrew
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 1, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jul 9, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA): $2.4M
Runtime: 1h 36m

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