O Anjo do Mossad

While the story of Ashraf Marwan is undoubtedly a fascinating one and deserves to have a movie made about it, I feel that this one misses the mark by quite a bit. I'm not referring to the trivial anachronisms and goofs (like the wrong Arabic accents, or KC and the Sunshine Band song played before its time) which have already been pointed out in other reviews, but to much more substantial historical inaccuracies and omissions. Main examples: 1) I could find no record of the botched attempt on the El Al plane in Rome which opens the movie, much less that Marwan personally smuggled the (sabotaged) weapons for it or was nearby when the Italian police closed in... seems like an incredibly risky thing to do for an Egyptian presidential aide 2) The movie's ending presents 2 false alarms of an imminent Egyptian invasion as a premeditated plan thought up to lull Israel into complacency. In fact there was only 1 false alarm (in May 1973) and Sadat postponed it due to a Syrian request, not because of some masterful plan of deception. 3) If Marwan really thought a no-win outcome for a war would be the best guarantee for peace, how was he so sure that warning Israel ahead of time would achieve that? Maybe his betrayal of information would be the one to tip the balance and ensure an Israeli victory, preventing the exact outcome he wanted to achieve. Which brings us to the main one: 4) No real explanation or hint on why Marwan would spy for the Israelis. Seems it was done for money. To say it was all part of grand master plan to level the playing field and bring peace to the Middle Easy seems a bit hard to believe. Other than that: it was suspenseful, the 70s atmosphere was largely credible, so overall it was not a waste of time to me.

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.

The plot was good, not sure how much of it was in line with the actual story. Actors did justice to their role. However the screenplay could've been a lot better. In a nutshell, it didn't go all nine yards but it's definitely a good one time watch

Why do some IMDB reviewers insist that "historical inaccuracies" can sink a movie? This is an excellent espionage spy thriller based on historical events in Egypt and Israel in 1973. The plot is nuances and complicated and fictionalized but these challenges make viewers watch carefully as events unfolds. A serious look at how one man can become a hero to two nations endlessly at each other's throats.

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.