The Gatekeepers uses a simple device - interviews with six former heads of the Israeli internal security service (Shin Bet) - but manages to inform on domestic and international history of the Israel-Palestine conflict, offer general insight into leadership, and reflect on complex moral issues.
By focusing on the Shin Bet, which acts as "the unseen shield" protecting Israel from both Israeli and Palestinian attacks, director Dror Moreh is able to touch on some major incidents in the establishment of Israel as a regional power. The Six-Day War, occupation of Palestinian territories, Bus 300 affair (in which the Shin Bet executed Palestinian bus hijackers after they were captured), the Jewish Underground's plots, the Oslo Accords, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin, and the assassination of Hamas leaders are all covered and we see what these events mean to the Shin Bet, Israel, and the world. While I was familiar with some of this history, there are a fair amount of revelatory moments here and seeing the reaction of the heads of the Shin Bet makes for fascinating viewing. It's a sprawling, tragic story, but Moreh somehow makes it relatively simple to digest and understand.