The Human Factor | Little White Lies

The Human Factor

19 May 2021 / Released: 21 May 2021

Words by Adam Woodward

Directed by Dror Moreh

Starring Gamal Helal and Martin Indyk

Three men in formal attire, one wearing a keffiyeh, shaking hands and smiling.
Three men in formal attire, one wearing a keffiyeh, shaking hands and smiling.
3

Anticipation.

A new adaptation of the Graham Greene novel?

4

Enjoyment.

In a sense... Equal parts enlightening and exasperating.

3

In Retrospect.

Diplomacy is a bitch.

The inside sto­ry of America’s futile attempts to bro­ker peace in the Mid­dle East makes for fas­ci­nat­ing viewing.

This eye-open­ing – at times eye-rolling – doc­u­men­tary is essen­tial view­ing for any­one inter­est­ed in learn­ing about America’s role as self-appoint­ed peace­mak­er in the Israeli-Pales­tin­ian con­flict fol­low­ing the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Direc­tor Dror Moreh inter­views most of the major play­ers on Team USA, ask­ing tough ques­tions and large­ly get­ting can­did answers. Shrewd­ly, he gives every­one just enough rope; if noth­ing else, The Human Fac­tor is a chron­i­cle of Amer­i­can hubris, reveal­ing how the world’s fore­most super­pow­er over­reached in its attempts to bro­ker a deal.

Of course, Amer­i­ca has nev­er real­ly been a neu­tral par­ty in all this. For­mer mem­bers of Bill Clinton’s admin­is­tra­tion recount how the Pres­i­dent was deter­mined to find an ami­ca­ble solu­tion to the decades-long Mid­dle East dis­pute, and how pro­found­ly affect­ed he was by the assas­si­na­tion of his dear friend Yitzhak Rabin in 1995.

The pic­ture paint­ed is one of a strong-willed and sen­si­tive politi­cian who was in over his head, lack­ing the inti­mate knowl­edge of the region which any suc­cess­ful diplo­mat­ic effort demand­ed. In the end, it’s hard not to come away with a renewed sense of mis­trust in US for­eign pol­i­cy, espe­cial­ly after chief nego­tia­tor Aaron David Miller admits that, to all intents and pur­pos­es, his side has con­tin­u­al­ly act­ed as Israel’s lawyer.

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