The Green Prince (2014)

I like the storyline of this show,it attract me so much

Purely Joyful Movie!

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

This documentary has one of those life-is-stranger-than-fiction premises. The son of one of the founders of the terrorist Hamas organization was successfully turned into an informant for the Israeli secret services, the Shin Bet. The story of Hassan Yousef would have remained one of the best guarded secrets of Israeli history had he not voluntarily exposed himself as a mole while living in the US after retiring as an Israeli asset. The story that gradually unfolds throughout the Green Prince is full of unexpected twists and intense political intrigue and family drama that one day needs to be turned into a full length feature film. But for now, we have this very competent documentary. Much of the film is a protracted interview with the Hasan with little camera movement, and simple lighting. This may sound like an overlong CNN special report, but the interview has such intensity, and Hassan narrates episodes of his life with such expressiveness and honesty, that the chronicle itself is gripping. It is interspersed with scenes that combine drone, night vision and CCTV like imagery, real news footage and some recreated acted moments, all heightening rather than replacing the narration. The storytelling and editing is tight and economical. Instead of taking a merely journalistic approach, it opts for a character study that slowly unfolds, turning a spy thriller plot into a story of betrayal and redemption that goes beyond the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. What the story does particularly well is show how gradually Hasan distanced himself from his father politically without ever disowning him. He simultaneously undermined him tactically and tried to avoid any threat to his life. At the same time, his "handler" Gonen Ben Yitzhak became a father- like figure. This bonding could be dismissed as no more than a predictable "Stockholm syndrome" denouement but for the fact that it was reciprocated by Gonen, who ultimately must also make a decision between advancing his career and protecting Hassan. The material never feels preachy or sanctimonious and it refuses to turn characters, even the Hamas founders, into cartoonish villains. A truly great documentarian like Werner Herzog or Joshua Oppenheimer might have taken a few more liberties with the material, and perhaps an even more cinematic approach, but this still deserves to be watched. In my case, the story lingered in my mind for many days after I had seen it.

I'm still in that post-amazement daze.First, I almost never last two seconds on "story telling" documentaries (I need in-the-moment action and suspense). This still had action and suspense for two reasons:1. The story was incredible.2. There was plenty of original footage (I saw a review stating that this was just guys in a room talking, but that is untrue - lots of original footage).You just can't believe that this really happened. Not with a person so high in the Hamas hierarchy.And there was no boring build-up. I hate having to "invest" time, risking my time for an unknown pay-off. The story, editing, and people grabbed me from the beginning.All I'm going to say is that you get the perspective of both the Hamas leader's son, and his "handler."All you need is the capacity for reason, and at least a minimal awareness of the Israel-Palastine conflict; and you will probably enjoy this.

Mosab's story is a poignant one, and the documentary certainly does the relationship which developed between Mosab and Gonen justice, as do the actors who portray them in the interview scenes. However, the choice of episodic structuring regarding Mosab's story was not, in my opinion, justified, and it gave the plot a confused, hit-and-miss vibe. Some of the episodes were completely devoid of a key element which would justify their presence, and in the end it made the plot seem more piecemeal than it was. Naturally, when telling a true story, one cannot expect the same plot twists seen in Hollywood, but there are better ways to approach the construction of a real-life story than the one chosen in the making of this documentary. It's worth watching, but more out of credit to Mosab than the documentary.

I'm not going to write too much as I'm not experienced in reviewing and am simply studying film and happened to attend a Documentary Festival to view this documentary without knowing the context of it. I personally found this documentary to be very educational and interesting, the story being told by the real subjects, not actors, as many people think, really makes a difference. It was highly informative but has been described as one sided by many viewers, I suppose you could say so but as John Battsek stated in an interview 'You cannot satisfy both sides'. After watching this documentary there was a debate about it between a Palestinian and an expert in Palestinian politics and history, they described this documentary as 'Israeli Propaganda', however I feel that their reasons for this were more personal than simply critiquing the film. I found it enticing and was drawn into the story with its original footage and narration. It didn't focus on anything but the Hamas movement and the involvement of the Shin Bet, things like the lack of information on certain events such as assassinations etc. but that was not meant to be the focus of this documentary and therefore I find the little information given justified.