| Damascus Cover | |
| Director: | Daniel Zelik Berk |
| Music: | Harry Escott |
| Cinematography: | Chloë Thomson |
| Editing: | Martin Brinkler |
| Distributor: | Vertical Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 93 minutes |
| Gross: | $19,532[1] |
Damascus Cover is a 2017 political thriller film, directed by Daniel Zelik Berk, from a screenplay by Berk and Samantha Newton. It is based upon the 1977 novel of the same name by Howard Kaplan. It stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Olivia Thirlby, Jürgen Prochnow, Igal Naor, Navid Negahban and John Hurt. This was Hurt's final film appearance before his death; the film was dedicated to his memory.
The film had its world premiere at the Boston Film Festival on September 23, 2017. It was released on July 20, 2018, by Vertical Entertainment.
Ari Ben-Sion, an Israeli spy posing as a German businessman named Hans Hoffmann in Berlin in 1989, is ordered to Damascus to help a Jewish family flee the country. He runs repeatedly into an attractive American photojournalist named Kim Johnson and strikes up a relationship with her. Soon he realizes that the local security services know he is an Israeli spy and are following him, though he is not sure why he has been allowed to live. In a series of twists, he learns that his true mission is to exfiltrate a senior Israeli spy called "The Angel" out of Syria, then that the true purpose of this is to damage the career of Suleiman Sarraj, the sadistic head of the Syrian secret service, and then that Kim is a Syrian spy/assassin working for Sarraj.
Ben-Sion launches his mission to help The Angel, bringing along Kim, who helps him kill several Syrian agents. He believes that she has turned a new leaf and that she, like him, has grown tired of lies and killing. The Angel, who already knew she worked for the Syrians, is appalled to see her alongside Ben-Sion at their rendezvous point. When Syrian forces appear, she insists she did not notify them but The Angel does not believe her, and shoots her dead. Ben-Sion holds off the Syrians while The Angel escapes, and is captured.
In a final twist, it is revealed that General Fuad, Sarraj's professional rival, was the *real* Angel, and that he had engineered the escape of the 'false' Angel in order to end Sarraj's career. He explains this to Ben-Sion then trades him for numerous Syrians held in Israeli captivity.
In February 2015, it was announced Jonathan Rhys Meyers, John Hurt, Olivia Thirlby, Igal Naor, Jürgen Prochnow, and Navid Negahban joined the cast of the film, with Daniel Zelik Berk directing from a screenplay he wrote alongside Samantha Newton, from the novel of the same name by Howard Kaplan. Hannah Leader will serve as a producer on the film.[2]
The film had its world premiere at the Boston Film Festival on September 23, 2017.[3] [4] Shortly after, Vertical Entertainment acquired distribution rights to the film.[5] The film was released on July 20, 2018.[6]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 14% based on 22 reviews, and an average rating of 4.2/10.[7] Metacritic gives it a weighted average score of 36 out of 100 based on reviews from 8 critics.[8]