'The Bibi Files' review: Alex Gibney's Benjamin Netanyahu documentary paints a frightening portrait of arrogance

A1 Digital India News: Critics of Benjamin Netanyahu will be disappointed to learn that Alexis Bloom's documentary The Bibi Files fails to offer major revelations about the corruption allegations surrounding the Israeli prime minister since 2016. Still, he had plenty to gain - including leaked footage of police interrogations of him, his wife Sara, and son Yair, which resulted in Netanyahu trying to have the film blocked by Israeli courts. 

Making its official world premiere at DOC in NYC - ahead of screenings at the Toronto International Film Festival, and just ahead of its theatrical and streaming release - The Bibi Files is a devilish account of the moves the subject made to stay in power. The aforementioned factors resulted in various charges of breach of trust, bribery, and fraud in 2019, which are still ongoing. 

Netanyahu's request to postpone the latest part of the trial because of the ongoing war with Hamas has led many to suspect that his management of the conflict stems from a desire to avoid prosecution as well as from Cohn's often-stated aim of "complete victory." As investigative journalist Raviv Drucker (one of the film's producers) puts it, "War has become another means to stay in power."

Although interrogation transcripts have already been released, The BB Files represents the first opportunity to see the actual footage. And that appears to be the case, if we look at how politicians and media experts express dismay when asked about things like accepting things other than expensive cigars. "So that's a crime?" he fumed. "So awful!"

Of course, not all the gifts he received were so modest - as evidenced by the thousands of dollars worth of jewellery given to his wife, Sara, by Israeli filmmaker Arnon Milchan (The Revenant and 12 Years a Slave and many others).

Netanyahu displayed a calm demeanor during most of the questioning: "Time flies when you're having fun," he said sarcastically at the end of one session. But there are also those who occasionally lose their temper, bang their fists on the table and, when told of a witness's accusation, shout "It's a lie! It's a lie!" But the most revealing thing is his apparently poor memory, answering subsequent questions with "I don't remember". It's a mental trait he shares with Donald Trump, another politician with whom he has a lot in common.

On the other hand, Sara is such an excellent performer that it makes an interviewer's comment that "I think Bibi is afraid of Sara" completely credible. Being a lover of wine and having a fiery temper, he did not like being asked to receive gifts of wine and champagne. "There's been a terrorist attack, and you're asking about the bottle?" he said angrily.

But both pale in comparison to his son Yair, who is considered even more right-wing than his father. He expressed contempt for the media and law enforcement officials who dared go after his family. "Investigate the Israeli police for being the Stasi secret police trying to overthrow the government," he sarcastically said. "A mafia police force."

But in addition to the juicy excerpts, the film also includes scathing and often slanderous comments from former Netanyahu aides Nir Hefetz, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Israeli politician Ami Ayalon, who once headed the country's Shin Bet security agency. The most serious allegations involve manipulation by Netanyahu to gain positive press coverage on media outlets such as the Walla news website. One journalist commented, "We felt like we were in a restaurant that was only serving food to one person," and said that code words such as "less chili" meant the story should be less critical.

In the documentary directed by Alex Gibney, Netanyahu is said to have supported Hamas in its political objectives. Of course, he doesn't mean much, as he shows when he uses a quote from The Godfather to describe his strategy: "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer," he told his interrogators.