The Angel (2018) ***

The true life story of Ashraf Marwan — son-in-law to Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser and advisor to Nasser’s successor, Anwar Sadat — seems more like fiction than reality, as he became an agent for the Israeli secret service, Mossad, under the code name “The Angel”. He ended up being hailed a hero by both Egypt and Israel, before dying mysteriously in a fall in London. Uri Bar-Joseph wrote a best-selling book about the man, so it was only a matter of time before the extraordinary tale was turned into a movie. The Angel (now available on Netflix) is that film, with Dutch-Tunisian actor Marwan Kanzari, in the title role. Inevitably the viewer asks, why did he do it? And the film’s only partly convincing answer is that he wanted to end wars between the two states, though the money Mossad gave him was also a temptation as he was a compulsive gambler. The irony was that when he correctly warned the Israelis about the imminent Yom Kippur attack in 1973 they didn’t believe him, as previous warnings had proved unsubstantiated as Sadat kept changing his plans. Meanwhile, Marwan’s relationship with his wife had deteriorated as she believed (wrongly) that he was having an extramarital affair — a subterfuge that was part of his “cover”. In the film, Marwan smuggles weapons for Palestinian guerrillas in his diplomatic luggage (though in reality it was unknowingly his wife that did) but the scene where he delivers them, vital components removed, at the perimeter fence of Heathrow Airport is fiction. At times one is tempted to think “that couldn’t have happened!”, but the story is so counter-intuitive that some of the most unlikely things are actually true. However, for me the film falls between the two stools of a biopic and a spy thriller, in a rather unsatisfactory fashion. Nonetheless, Ariel Vromen’s direction keeps one’s interest up and the sombre hues of many of the interior scenes add to the sinister undercurrent. Kanzari’s portrayal of Marwan is sympathetic, in contrast to most of the other characters. So he does come across as a sort of angel, though one with an increasingly troubled mind.