Film reviews: The Gatekeepers | Flying Blind

Our roundup of the latest releases

The Gatekeepers (15)

****

Distilling the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian problem into a single 95-minute documentary sounds an almost impossible task, but it’s fascinating to hear six former heads of Israel’s secret service agency Shin Bet talk fairly frankly and for the first time about tracking, spying on and executing those marked by Israel as terrorists.

Illustrated with newsreel footage of terrorist atrocities, at its best Dror Moreh’s documentary demonstrates the real psychological and moral horrors inflicted on both sides by the long occupation. An obvious omission is a Palestinian voice, although Moreh does his best to challenge his interviewees. His film is absorbing, frustrating and frequently surprising in its frankness.

• Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Friday until 2 May

Flying Blind (15)

***

Helen McCrory is the main reason to catch this rather soapy thriller about a woman who falls for a much younger Arab engineering student but comes to suspect he is actually just using her to obtain access to military secrets.

It’s clunky small-screen stuff, requiring McCrory’s character to make stupid choices simply to keep the plot going, but she’s intriguing enough to keep interest ticking over.

• Filmhouse, Edinburgh, Saturday, and Glasgow Film Theatre, 28 April