In this little-seen movie (I'm not sure it played more than a week anywhere), Israel's security services are worried about a possible assassination attempt against Ariel Sharon; they whittle their list of potential assassins down to a handful, each with a different political or psychological motive; and the movie follows those suspects. Of course there is little expectation that the movie will actually depart from history and present the assassination of Ariel Sharon. But as the film depicts the suspects and their personal lives, we are drawn into their stories and we experience suspense as we hope that none of them is really going to try something so destructive. (The film seems to have the least political sympathy for the Orthodox Jewish suspect, but it elicits personal sympathy for him by contrasting him with his stubborn father.) The shortness of the short list of suspects is surely a little unrealistic (out of millions of Israelis) and the relationships that happen to link some of them with some of the security men are ridiculously coincidental, but I'd say suspension of disbelief is achieved thanks to cinematic professionalism. What may have sunk the movie into obscurity is the lack of a firm editorial statement among all the political dilemmas presented. I'm not sure I would have liked the statement had it been made, but at least I would have felt that someone had a better reason for raising political issues than simply keeping me alert for an hour and a half.
