The Gatekeepers(2012)
dir. Dror Moreh
Six ex-spy chiefs on what the occupation cost.
Where to watch: Rent $3.99 on Amazon Video, Apple TV, Fandango At Home; buy $12.99-14.99; no subscription or free option found (JustWatch US, checked 2026-10-31). Verify.Letterboxd ↗
Six former heads of Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, sit down on camera for the first time and talk about what they did and what they came to think of it. They discuss targeted killings, interrogation, the occupied territories and the 1995 assassination of Yitzhak Rabin. Moreh lets the men speak, mixing their testimony with archive footage and animation, and the result is a document of surprisingly critical hindsight from the people who ran the machine.
Why it’s here
It's a film about the people who did the work questioning the work. What's punk is the shock of insiders breaking ranks, saying the system wins tactical battles and loses the strategic war. What's pedagogical is that it shows how a security state thinks about itself, and why a pattern of short-term wins can undercut long-term safety. Note: Israeli-made and Israeli voices only; no Palestinian speakers appear, so it must be paired with Palestinian perspectives. Some of the men's comments about interrogation are troubling and the film does not fully answer them. Companion to The Iron Wall and Three Worlds in the catalog and a tie to the Palestine bundle. Hebrew, with subtitles.
Where This Film Lives
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