User reviews

Tells the story of Ashraf Marwan, a spy "unmasked" by British historian Ahron Bregman (or, perhaps, someone that Ahron Bregman feels he has unmasked -- with some help from Eli Zeira, the director of Israeli military intelligence during the Yom Kippur War).

The director, Tom Meadmore, makes a solid effort to tell both sides of the story and remain impartial -- leaving the 'double-agent' vs 'not double-agent' up to the viewer and should be commended for such, given the details of this particular case.

One could potentially argue that there could be some sort of reverse-bias in play, in that one tries to be so impartial that glaring inconsistencies or absurdities are downplayed in order to play up the 'mystery'.

The one "slip" (if you could call it that) would be the rather telling question that Tom Meadmore asks Mr. Bregman toward the very end of the documentary -- but it was something on my mind & probably for many other viewers by that point. I think it needed to be said.

Recommended, enjoyed it throughout.

A documentary that to some may feel unfulfilled. We have a spy who was quite the figure. Many things remain unknown about his motives, about his believes, about whom he worked for. Or for how many people. What seems pretty clear is that he didn't just jump and try to fly. I think everyone can agree that that would be quite convinient and totally wrong.

But who did it then? One of the many things the documentary tries to reveal. Again there will be a lot of people who are not satisfied with this and what it actually says. I understand people who argue that it goes in circles or repeats certain talking points. It still is done very well over all. Could have been shorter for sure, but don't hold it against it

In this documentary we have no clear answer. What it is makes an argument that real life espionage is 100% cloak and dagger. A possible Egyptian hero and a turned Israeli spy looms large. There is quite the side stories to support both. In this convoluted reality is the story of "The Spy Who Fell to Earth". And the title is wholly descriptive as Marwan's death was due to a fall. Was it the Israelis? Was it the Egyptians? Was it suicide? It remains an open answer. In this climate this documentary allows there is ample reason for at least two of these scenarios. Even in retrospect the concrete answer alludes those who seek it. One journalist feels a heavy burden in the outcome. This is an arresting confluence of events. There is ample information here to support either of the two possibilities of murder with no clear cut answer. Frustrating? That is true, but the story is larger and that is what this documentary does achieve. The bottom line is that playing between two passionately waring factions is fought with peril. That peril resulted in Marwan's death is the only thing that is certain. What should not be forgotten is that this was only one life of thousands that has been lost over this struggle. A life and death that remains still today.

To be famous blinded Ahron Bregman who exposed Marwan. It is on him that Ashraf Marwan is dead. I hope he will not have a peaceful day the rest of his life.

The historian behind this story is either not very clever or a grandiose crook or both. My guess is, I'm sorry to say, he might be both.

I couldn't win, and it didn't help that it was subtitled... I couldn't win...

This documentary is important since it tells us the story of probably the greatest spy intrigue of the XX century, since Ashraf Marwan influenced the outcome of the last and some would say the most important of the Arab-Israeli wars - the October war of 1973 with both superpowers of the time (the USA and the USSR) standing with their full military potential behind the warring sides.

As in any documentary, there is no fiction here, it is a 100% real-life story. And you expect it to be an investigation into the mysterious death of A.Marwan nearly 34 (!) years after the war was over and 5 years after Ahron Bregman (a British-Israeli historian) exposes him as an Israeli spy. But the film actually is a story about how Bergman unveiled Marwan.

Unfortunately the Egyptian side did not respond to the filmmakers' invitation to comment on the issue on the official level (only an expert aired Egyptian view that Marwan served his country well). So we have to deal only with comments of several retired Israeli intelligence officers including former Mossad Director, but all of them left their posts about 10 years prior to the murder (or suicide?) of Marwan, so they were not the decision-makers even if Marwan was killed by Israelis (which, Egyptians believe, is the case). The Israelis (with one exception) consider Marwan a devoted Mossad agent and accuse the Egyptians, qualifying his murder as a reprisal for high treason. Marwan's widow (the daughter of Nasser) suspects Mossad.

So, summing up, after watching this intriguing film I felt embarrassed and amused by both sides (Israeli and Arab) being equally grateful to the late spy for his service, which turns this really detective story into a tragicomedy.

With all the initial information (basic data and comments given in the film) available for interpretation, you can start your own investigation into this shadowy case. It is a separate question if you can believe (and to what extent) those comments and trust people trained to hide the truth and to deceive. We are at crossroads here and are lured by the filmmaker into solving a riddle that resembles "I know that you know that I know" logical puzzle.

Well, here is my take on the issue:

1) From the Israeli point of view, Marwan provided them with first-class, top secret information. Could he do that? Definitely yes. All sorts of Arab-Soviet arms talks, inter-Arab negotiations, etc., were delivered in full detail. The supply of sensitive information began from late 1970 (according to the film, Marwan's first contact with the Israelis took place 2 months after Nasser's death, which means at the end of November 1970). His only and crucial inaccuracy was that he warned about the offensive at sunset while it happened 4 hours earlier. Were those 4 hours so important if you had 24 hours early warning? Even if Israelis saw this as a serious dis - (or - mis-) information, did Marwan deserve to be killed? I seriously doubt it.

2) In Egypt at about the same time (from 1971 and on) the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat began using every opportunity to threaten Israel with a new war, mainly as a pure propaganda for domestic consumption, but also as a tool to build immunity among Israeli decision-makers against these regular threats (remember a tale about a boy shouting "Wolves!"?). So, if we accept Egyptian insisting on Marwan being a devoted patriot, this assumption goes well in hand with provision of genuine data to the enemy, so that Israelis would completely trust Marwan and rely on him. So could Marwan have been murdered for this by Egypt? I don't think so. He was likely to receive orders directly from President Sadat and both of them were involved in a multi-vector deception operation.

3) If we exclude both Israel and Egypt as likely murderers, then who is to blame? There is a number of sides who think they have unpaid bills. First of all we should keep in mind that if Marwan was a key player in this deception plot masterminded by Sadat, the latter, despite being a triumphant winner of the 1973 war, was killed as a traitor in 1981 by the Egyptian Islamic Jihad (I wonder if jihad can be non-Islamic?) for making peace with Israel. Then Marwan deserved capital punishment for being a squared traitor: Sadat betrayed his country (according to the Jihad) AFTER the war, while Marwan betrayed it long before and after the war. I'm not pointing definitely to Jihad, but ANY Islamist group can easily be responsible for this.

4) Then come the Syrians who were also deceived by Sadat, since the initial distribution of roles was: for the Syrians - to recapture the Golan Heights, while Egypt was supposed to reach the Sinai mountain passes (30-40 kilometers to the East from the Canal), which he could never achieve, the real goal was to push the Israelis back 10-15 kilometers to the East from the Canal and to dig in the sand.

5) Finally there are Palestinians (of various factions) who never were too distant from all sorts of political assassinations all over the Middle East for the last 5 decades.

6) Finally, I don't believe it was a murder at all for 2 reasons:

• the timing. Marwan died at about 1 p.m. which is not the right time if you want to throw a man out of the balcony without attracting much attention.
• the way of murder. Throwing people out of the windows (defenestration) is somewhat old-fashioned today. Killing with a silenced gun is much more popular.
• Marwan was talking to somebody before his death and was not especially excited, he asked Bregman to call him later when Bregman phoned to him (if Bregman is to be trusted at all).

The fatal dispute must have been about his memoires - there could be something interesting in them, but hardly sensational: all sensations had already been made public by Bregman.

The film would have surely benefited from interviews with the British secret services that must know a lot about the case. They definitely had Marwan's phone tapped and probably had his house under surveillance. Also, it's hard to believe that there was no CCTV camera or a concierge at the entrance of a billionaire's house 100 meters away from Trafalgar Square?!

Again, the film is highly recommended.

It's clear that the author thinks he's all that, and he is by far the weakest part of the documentary. Also the info they chose to leave out in lieu of simply retelling the story over and over again, is strange. The editing was also strange and unnecessarily confusing.

There are 3 points of view, but Netflix has viewed official Israeli, Ex-spy chief, and ignored the Egyptian one, due to the sensitivity of such subject. Between the lines, Mossad is telling the truth, gaining such an advanced position in the Arab world is due to nepotism and stabbing backs, not due to experience. The historians mentioned that when the Israeli newspaper mentioned Marwan, Marwan got upset and that is not what double spy does.

1-am gonna say my opinion in simple way dear mr.Ahron Bregman why there is too much footage of you and your family in the documentary it is just about ashraf marwan . 2-the movie could end in 45 minutes maximum but you still keep rephrase same story from two sides egyptian and isreali and mainly was the Israeli side. 3- it is simple from my point of view we will never know if he was really double or not because you seek truth between bunch of pure liars and pure corruption. and at last you did really good job but you just go in circles because there is too many variables in ashraf marwan story .

Total waste of time under a gripping name. The film is pointless consisting of repetitive scenes and having no distinctive narrative. It gives nothing. Why it is done? Looks a lot like the author's egotrip presenting mostly him.

The basic story is really fascinating, yet, this film is totally unconvincing. I was completely unimpressed with the rationale of Aaron Bergman.

The worst possible way to tell a interesting story. The screenplay and editing were horrible. This is the worst documentary or movie I have seen in long time. Even YouTubers make good content than this. I wasted my 1 hour