The tale of Mosab Hassan Yousef is so sensational that it could have been plucked from the pages of an espionage potboiler. Mosab is the eldest son of Palestinian leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, one of the founders of Hamas and the public face of the Second Intifada. Groomed as his father’s heir apparent, Mosab’s early enthusiasm for Hamas’ mission eventually gave way to disillusionment at the organization’s violent methods. Enter Gonen Ben Yitzhak, a handler for Israel’s security service, Shin Bet. Sensing Mosab’s wavering conscience, Yitzhak persuaded the young Palestinian to begin providing the Israelis with intelligence from within Hamas. It worked in part because it was so unthinkable: who would believe that the crown prince of Palestine’s most prominent political and military faction was an Israeli spy?
Mosab and Yitzhak offer their complementary perspectives on this remarkable story in director Nadav Schirman’s new documentary feature, The Green Prince. The bulk of the film consists of Mosab and Yitzhak’s dueling firsthand accounts, stitched together with news footage, recreations, visual effects, and a suitably ominous score. Schirman and the film’s editors do an impressive job of splicing together the talking heads into a tense, propulsive thriller, keeping the repetitious overlap between their protagonists’ stories to a minimum.
The overall effect is undeniably pulpy, and even tacky at times, but Mosab’s haunted agitation and Yitzhak’s matter-of-fact affability keep the film grounded in the overwhelming risks that double agents face on a daily basis. While The Green Prince is plainly titled towards an Israel-centric outlook, the film does not aspire to be an objective work of political history. Rather, Schirman’s film reveals itself as a thoughtful portrait of the emotionally convoluted relationship between two adversaries-turned-allies, and an acidic critique of Shin Bet’s often risible treatment of an invaluable human asset.
The Green Prince opens Friday, October 17 at Landmark Plaza Frontenac Cinema, 1701 S. Lindbergh, 314-994-3733.
