A riveting suspense film focused on the complicated relationship shared by a crafty Israeli secret-service agent (Tsahi Halevy) and a conflicted Palestinian teenager (Shadi Mar'i) he uses as an informant. Though an Israeli co-production, it treats both its Jewish and Arab characters with relative impartiality. It also simply plays very well as a grim and involving spy story in the spirit of John le Carré, but shaped to fit the moral ambiguities and cultural tensions of the contested Palestinian territories.

A-