|
|
THE OPERATIVE
Director: Yuval Adler Cast: Diane Kruger, Martin Freeman, Cas Anvar, Liron Levo, Yaakov Zada Daniel, Ohad Knoller MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:56 Release Date: 8/2/19 (limited) |
|
Review by Mark Dujsik | August 1, 2019 Ultimately, The Operative is about the toll of being a spy, sent into hostile territory to make seemingly real connections with a real place and real people. To do this job well, the movie presents, is to become so involved in a role and with others that people wouldn't even suspect the possibility that they're in the presence of a spy. That's the estimable talent of Rachel (Diane Kruger), a Mossad operative who, at the story's start, has been in hiding for some time. She had been in Tehran, working to obtain information about Iran's nuclear program, but something happened. Her former handler Thomas (Martin Freeman), a British-born Jew living in Germany and working for the Israeli intelligence agency, receives a call from Rachel, who informs him that her father has died again and ends the call. With that appetizing morsel of intrigue, writer/director Yuval Adler, working from Yiftach Reicher Atir's novel The English Teacher, sets up one mystery—the intentions of a rogue agent, suddenly making her existence known to people who might do her harm—but falls back on a straightforward recitation of Rachel's espionage in Iran. The beginning of one fascinating story is only the first bookend of a familiar one. By the time the narrative gets back to where it began, the movie is essentially finished. What's presented here is serviceable—and only that—in terms of its weaving plot and its depiction of the intelligence world as one of changing internal politics and consistent hypocrisy (especially when it comes to its treatment of female agents). There's also a fairly close focus on how this work affects Rachel, whom Kruger plays with resilience and doubt but, admirably, without an ounce of vulnerability. The character knows exactly into what she has gotten herself, as she forms a romance with local businessman Farhad (Cas Anvar), whom Mossad wants to use as a pawn to give Iran defective technology. The stakes are in her realizing how her spy games might have become too real for her. Despite this, the bulk of the story, told in strangely accurate flashbacks (since Thomas is essentially our narrator and, until the climax, a fairly useless character in the story's present), feels like the prologue to a more vital tale. The Operative leaves that story hanging after mostly going through the motions. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products
|
