The Infiltrator

Based on the true story of Yaron Svoray, an Israeli freelance reporter living in the US. "The Infiltrator" recounts Svoray's infiltration of Nazi-sympathizers in Germany and beyond.

Oliver Platt plays Svoray, and does a good job in a very serious role. But Svoray's self-imposed mission, with the cooperation and support of the Wiesenthal Center is a Bunyonesques task, and, he is somewhat ill-equipped. If the film initially is to show us how direct exposure to the atrocities of Nazism might fuel unbridled fire within a person, Jewish or otherwise, then it fails in act one.

It's exposition regarding the state of Nazism today, is important, somewhat startling, and much more dramatic. That a Jewish reporter could infiltrate this infra-structure is somewhat unbelievable, but it serves to validate Svoray's passion.

All in all, the film struggles in no-man's land between documentary and thriller, battling to fill time between real life events. Curiously, actor Arliss Howard takes a major role as an Israeli agent-he will go on to play Mossad operative Peter Malkin in the bio-pic 'The Man Who Captured Eichmann (1996)".

Svoray's story is compelling, sadly the film gives us a less than satisfying conclusion. A worthwhile watch, nonetheless.

This is absolutely unbelievable! This is the story of a Jewish journalist who's assigned to a story in east Germany, and then is arrested, and somehow tricks skinheads into believing that he's a sympathiser. So the skinheads take him out for a drink, and shoot the hey with him for a while. Of course, although he's a foreigner, and skinheads' attitudes towards foreigners aren't as open-armed as they are in this film, I'm surprised that Yuron didn't get his jaw busted open against a sidewalk shortly after.

Anyhow, the next day, Yuron goes on to meet up with a few skin heads that he met the night before. There, they take him to a snuff-film. Of course, this scene's completely unnecessary and gutwrenching. As if even a few loose-knit skinhead gangs are to trust some dude they've met out of the bloom with something that can buy them life in the can or the chair!

Then Yuron goes to the police-station, and meets up with the hot officer-ette who busted him the other night, and tries to file a report. He tells her of what he saw, and of course, for some reasons unexplained, she refuses to file the report, but sympathises with Yuron so much she goes on a crusade to put these thugs behind bars.

Then the next memorable thing, is where Yuron goes to meet the granddaddy of the organisation, who insanely shoves a gun into his face, before they remove it. Of course, not realising that their elder may have some good advice, they allow Yuron to go unchecked from there on out, until some guy Mark Webber's mentioned of hearing about him.

My advice is to not waste your time... Unless you're a masochist.

Now, I don't know about the guy Platt portrays in this film. I think it is based on a real life story, but I'm not sure all the facts. I do know that this movie makes you think a lot. There were points in the film where I was on the edge of crying. Platt plays this character wonderfully, and I think that he did an awesome job when it came to showing his horror as a jew when he would see disgusting acts by the nazis. In this movie, you're rooting for Platt's character all the way, and you find yourself asking the question...how can people be friends with this man, and then hate him because of his religious beliefs and ethnicity? It's a movie that makes you ask questions like these. It's one of the best movies of its kind in my opinion.

Apparently that's the moral of this movie. The movie could have been an interesting depiction of a true story, but it isn't. Mainly coz the screenwriters and director have done such a messy (and in one instance, downright vulgar) job, that a child wont believe the ludicrous goings-on in this braindead movie. The guy meets his ethnic friends in broad daylight while working undercover as a proNazi. He tells the Nazis he represents rich people interested in the cause, and the Nazis believe him straight out without even asking for any credentials. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. All this is explained, in a not-so-subtle case of begging the question, by a dialogue about the Nazis which goes "These guys believe anything.. Greed has made them blind". Or shaving the head has made them stupid.

Yaron (Oliver Platt) is a Jew journalist assigned for a matter about Neo-Nazis in German. He poses of Neo-Nazi and the skinheads believe he is the representative of a wealthy American, who wants to sponsor a German Neo-Nazis groups.

This film is very scary, since it is based on a true story. It is almost unthinkable that, in 2004, there are persons having such a feeling of rage in their hearts against other human beings, just because of their religions or ethnicity. Oliver Platt has a great performance as a brave and audacious man. "The Infiltrator" is a very disgusting, but also a very important and highly recommended film about intolerance and racism. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): 'Infiltrator – Em Busca da Verdade' ('Infiltrator – Looking For the Truth')