The Angel movie review: A tepid, lacklustre spy thriller that falls prey to narrative schizophrenia

In The Angel, the latest Netflix original film, our protagonist Ashraf Marwan’s life turns around on two phone calls. These transform him from a bit player to a man who will go on to decide the fate of two rival nations. Marwan’s true story is one for the ages. Unfortunately, director Ariel Vromen fails to bring it alive on the screen with the sensitivity and political awareness that it deserves. A potentially fascinating character study is wasted in the service of a tepid, lacklustre spy thriller that falls prey to narrative schizophrenia. The Angel is set between 1967 and 1973, the period between the two Arab-Israeli wars that altered the course of the region’s history. Reeling from the swift loss incurred at the hands of Israel in 1967, Egypt is itching to win back the territories it lost. Aggression and revenge is in the air. Marwan, son-in-law to Gamal Abdal Nasser, the giant Egyptian politician, repeatedly finds his moderate, conciliatory views falling on deaf ears. They are dismissed as weak and insubstantial. Frustrated and angry, Marwan walks into a phone booth and dials the number for the Israeli Embassy. Little does he know that his life will never be the same again. Soon, Nasser is dead. Sadat is the new chief in Egypt. Marwan helps him stomp out his enemies and is duly rewarded for his loyalty. The new special adviser’s wiles find him ascending closer and closer to the throne when the phone rings again. A few days later, Marwan is thrust into the dangerous role of spying for Israel on Sadat and his confidants. A cat and mouse game ensues under the looming shadow of war. Marwan finds himself cornered again and again, only to burrow his way out somehow. But will he be able to avert the war and save his skin at the same time? [caption id=“attachment_5303801” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Still from The Angel. Image via Netflix[/caption] Ariel Vromen plays the game safe by hardly even attempting to delve into the complex politics of the region. The Israeli occupation of Palestinian land never receives a mention. That sets the tone for a film that forgoes political complexity to focus on Marwan’s unenviable position as a peacemonger and unwilling spy. Marwan Kenzari is tasked with the job of portraying Ashraf and carrying the film on his shoulders. While his performance checks most of the boxes, the uninspired secondary performances of lazily written characters lessen the impact it could have had as a fascinating character study. Take the character of Diana Davis, for instance. She walks in and out of the film at the director’s convenience, an object of desire who fails to seduce Marwan but helps him out every time he finds himself cornered and out of trustworthy friends. Ironically, she is among the long list of characters who render Marwan’s character weaker and less interesting. The Angel remains watchable owing simply to the amazing true story that inspired the book the film is based on. There are enough twists and turns to escape the laziest of treatments. The stakes are even higher. The fate of two nations — an entire region, in truth — rests upon the shoulders of a man who, by all means, should cave in to pressure. But in exceeding all expectations Marwan almost manages to rewrite the course of history. Not without significant harm being brought upon his family. Or at the cost of his peace of mind. Here and there illuminating moments of genuine empathy turn up unannounced in a narrative drenched in the somber amber of the film’s frames. They hint at a film that could have been genuinely engaging and thrilling. But they are let down by other moments where characters are represented so poorly that one can’t help but marvel at their deficiencies. Muammar Gaddafi is nothing but a caricature in The Angel: Harem. Check. Reference to goats. Check. Irresponsible behaviour. Check. His arrival and departure in the film seems to be organised to elicit cheap laughs. Wrongly set-up as an anti-Bond, Marwan’s fascinating, once in a lifetime story struggles to keep afloat in Vromen’s sinking ship. While it isn’t outright boring, the film fails to do justice to Marwan, the period it is set in or the significance of the courage displayed by a few good men. Here’s hoping a far more sensitive telling of this important story lies around the corner. The Angel is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the trailer here: