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A psychological spy thriller set in 1997 that follows the story of Rachel (Gila Almagor), a retired Mossad agent who, in 1964, was part of a hit squad sent to Germany to take out the ‘Birkenau Surgeon’ – an escaped Nazi war criminal. The squad members ultimately fail at their task but decide to fake their target’s death anyway, and return to Israel as national heroes on the blaze of glory.
The film opens at a party where chapters from a book Rachel had written about their heroic assignment are being read out. Zvi (Alex Peleg), her erstwhile hit squad colleague, shows up at her doorstep with some news. There is an elderly man in a Kyiv retirement home claiming to be the ‘Birkenau Surgeon.’ Fearing that her past is about to catch up to her, Rachel decides it’s time to tie up this loose end once and for all, finish the job over 30 years later, and protect the integrity of her lie. From this moment, the plot splits into two timelines following both attempts to assassinate the Nazi criminal – then and now.
The film was shown at the Jerusalem Film Festival. In 2010, it even received a Hollywood remake directed by John Madden and starring Dame Helen Mirren, Jessica Chastain, and Sam Worthington.
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For more information about the rights holders, please visit the relevant collection page, or contact the Jerusalem Cinematheque – Israeli Film Archive (RA) offices.
We have the utmost respect for all rights holders’ copyright and put great efforts to track down any and all intellectual property owners for the purpose of seeking and obtaining permission to use their materials featured on the website.
Any and all materials are used in accordance with clause 27a of the 2007 Copyright Act. If you believe that your rights as intellectual property and copyright owners of any material featured on this website have been compromised, then you may contact the Israeli Film Archive via email with a cease-and-desist notice, requesting that the material in alleged copyright infringement no longer be used. When contacting the archive, please state the merit to your copyright ownership claim, as well as your full name, email address, and telephone number, with a link to the relevant webpage.
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