Der ägyptische Spion, der Israel rettete

The Angel movie, is the Israeli side of the story that follows Ashraf Marwan (son-in-law of late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser) as an Egyptian arms dealer/diplomat/spy who also worked for Mossad before/during the Yom Kippur war in 1973. Still, to this day, it is not confirmed what he did or didn't do is true. Film, nevertheless, have good-looking production which offers a stylish but a slow-paced spy story that gains momentum just before movie climax. The performances of the cast are OK. As a result, this is not a bad film, but it's little bit flat and too long for my taste. 6+/10.

The Arabic language was not right and was not Egyptian one, so we could use Egyptian actors or just keep it all in English, for the actors, I think they are really nice and good. for the story, It was amazing, I'm an Egyptian young man and I didn't read about Ashraf Marwan, and I was shocked by how intelligent he was and the final part was like O.O so I think it's a very good movie for you If you are interested about this part of history for this part of Earth, the middle east

Some reviewers question did this really happen. Well on April 4, 1973 "Two Arabs made an unsuccessful attempt to attack passengers of an El Al plane at the Rome airport. They were arrested but later released and sent to Lebanon." This quote is from the New York Times article "Few Arab Terrorists Are Punished for Hijackings and Killings" published on Dec 20, 1973. There is also a Time article that reviews what is documented in history and what is the movie makers creative license.

I enjoyed the movie. Watch it with some popcorn.

This is really an excellent film with none of the gratuitous violence that is typical of too many espionage thrillers. This is a true, old fashion 1970s spy story during an extraordinary period of history. I was totally unaware of this story before I saw this film. It's well acted and not over produced, and unless your an Arabic speaker it doesn't matter how authentic the idioms are.

Subject: 10/10; Film execution: 3/10

Ashraf Marwan is so-called the greatest asset for Israel as a spy in the 20th century. The film, however, failed to address the two central questions and thereby did not get viewers engaged emotionally.

The questions are (1) who Ashraf Marwan was (i.e. what brought him up to such a high ranking position even after his father-in-law President Nasser passed away); and (2) what his motivation as a spy was (i.e. why his patriot drive forces were not fulfilled within the Egyptian Presidential Office.) The biggest problem for me is the true reason why Marwan leaked critical information about war prep from his country to the enemy. The film seemingly described him like a peacemaker, but the leak served for only Israel's interests and caused damages on Egypt's side, from my viewpoint.

In order to fully illustrate the true story of Marwan, the film should've more deeply told about prolonged political tensions and dynamics between the Arab League and Israel, and more importantly described how Marwan made moves under the situation. Without explaining political efforts made by both sides, Marwan in this film looks merely like a betrayal idiot desperately in need of money.

Rather, the producers allocated more time to focus on soap opera-ish family matters and personal relationship between Marwan and his handler from the Israel Mossad. Such unstructured screenwriting and directing are everywhere in this film and derailed me from the main theme. So while watching I was frequently forced to google the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s as well as key players. And then I learned that the film ruined the original novel written by a political science professor. Although I only skimmed the novel, it is very informative yet intriguing and easy to understand in a politically neutral way.

This film could've been better if directed by someone else and made as a TV mini series, not a 2-hour film. Poor acting - which some other reviewers have already pointed out - is not mainly due to lack of acting skills or low budget, but inevitable due to shallow cheesy screenwriting with multiple plot holes. Still it may be worthwhile for those who are interested in but not so familiar with the history of the Middle East. At least for me it became a good start to further research for myself.