Hamas member Mosab Hassan Yousef and Shin Bet handler Gonen Ben Yitzhak develop an unusual relationship in THE GREEN PRINCE
THE GREEN PRINCE (Nadav Schirman, 2014)
Lincoln Plaza Cinema, 1886 Broadway at 63rd St., 212-757-2280
Angelika Film Center, 18 West Houston St. at Mercer St., 212-995-2570
Opens Friday, September 12
www.musicboxfilms.com
The subject of The Green Prince seems like a plotline stolen from an episode of Homeland or a John le Carré thriller, except in this case it’s all very real. Nadav Schirman’s documentary follows what one would expect to be an impossible mission: Gonen Ben Yitzhak, an experienced handler for the Shin Bet, Israeli’s secret police, attempts to “recruit” Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of one of Hamas’s founders. Writer, director, and producer Schirman, who focused on a Mossad agent in The Champagne Spy and the family of Carlos the Jackal in In the Dark Room, somehow persuaded Gonen and Mosab to go on camera and share the details of their compelling story. Gonen tries to convince Mosab to turn on his friends and relatives, Hamas, and everything he believes in and start working undercover for Shin Bet. But when Gonen grasps an unexpected moment of opportunity, breaking rules he had always followed previously, leading to his Shin Bet bosses thinking he’s compromised the plan, his move actually ends up bringing Mosab and him closer together, beginning what might even be termed a legitimate friendship. The Green Prince is set up like an intricate game of cat and mouse, built around trust, lies, and the search for the truth. Even though the two men and the filmmakers know how it all ends up, they keep viewers on the edge of their seats as wild episodes are described in detail and raw emotions are revealed, supplemented with archival footage, news reports, and staged re-creations — which feel rather unnecessary. The movie, based on Mosab’s book, Son of Hamas: A Gripping Account of Terror, Betrayal, Political Intrigue, and Unthinkable Choices, is rather static, mostly cutting between Gonen and Mosab talking to the camera, but it is one helluva story — which, by the way, is being turned into a feature film as well. It’s also not just about Israelis vs. Palestinians, Jews vs. Muslims, the Shin Bet vs. Hamas but about family and the hope of a lasting peace.