The Operative

Good film, YES you have to pay attention. The first half of the film is excellent , it gets choppy and the narrative nearly goes off the rails.

There s a key moment in the film when the handler meets the main character's father, "The liberal Englishman academic", who is horrified of the thought of Israel. This is a position I have never seen said out loud in film or print by WESTERN media. Its tectonic. I was really surprised because Israel is an artifice, (its just no one admits it).

The acting is amazing as usual Martin Freeman steals the movie (he has nearly taken over from Phillip Seymour Hoffman) , and. Diane Kruger is EXCELLENT !

Diane Kruger is a very special beauty. And a very talented actress. A unique personality. This is her movie, she's on screen almost all the time. Martin Freeman is very natural and credible in the role of Thomas. Cas Anvar is just as good in the role of Farhad. But the film could have been much better, there are gaps in the script and in directing. Just 5 stars, all for Diane Kruger and the other actors.

Good Cast. But the whole film built up to a climax that never happened. Ultimately dissapointing.

This was the first movie which had real scenes of Iran. Streets, people, accents, culture every thing was completely accurate. If you don't know anything about Iran and iranian people, you can trust every thing you watch in this movie. Of course some small details in streets, wasn't quite the same, but it was close. Any way I think it is underrated and I don't understand why. It's not boring and I enjoyed watching it.

In essence, a decent spy film. Interesting, in my case, for Diane Kruger and Martin Freeman. The end can be the most satisfactory. A film about Iran, with not so bad romance story and not the worst portrait of independent woman. Good acting, decent crafted story .