Adapted from the novel The English Teacher, a bestseller inspired by testimonies from Mossad agents and real events, Yuval Adler’s The Operative (Bethlehem 2013) is a gripping political and psychological thriller that renews the espionage film through the lens of personal drama.
However, The Operative transgresses the codes of the action film, focusing more on the content of the missions assigned to the intelligence agents and their ethical and psychological repercussions.
The film opens at a crucial moment when Thomas, a British espionage agent based in Germany, subtly portrayed by Martin Freeman (Black Panther, Cargo, The Hobbit), receives a mysterious call from Rachel, Diane Kruger (Welcome to Marwen, In the Fade, All That Divides Us), a former undercover agent in Tehran with whom he closely collaborated before she disappeared. The Mossad instantly orders him to bring her back, and Rachel’s story is then revealed to us through a skillful series of flashbacks.
The plot plays with this precarious balance of contradictory loyalties interweaving private life and professional relationships.
From Rachel’s recruitment to her role in the field, everything is planned, precisely calibrated, and orchestrated so that the mission is executed with minimal collateral damage. But Rachel is a sensitive and contemplative being, not just a machine to be exploited at all costs, blindly following orders—much to the organization’s chagrin.
It is in these same moments of passivity that one realizes how rarely being a spy is enjoyable, and that Rachel’s rebellion is only a logical consequence of the mental and moral burden she carries daily.
Ultimately, The Operative goes against the conventional sequences typical of action films, which tend to overly amplify the main plot. Here, in contrast, we are drawn closer to the personal drama experienced, or rather endured, by Rachel, an agent “for the right cause.”
