The Champagne Spy

Ze'ev Gur Arie worked for the Israeli Intelligence Agency, Mossad, and spent some of the most confrontational years of the Nasser regime in the 60s operating undercover in Egypt on a mission from the state, posing as an ex-Nazi German millionaire and horse breeder Wolfgang Lotz.

His wife and 12-year-old child, Oded, lived in Paris, while Ze'ev was not only gathering information on scientists developing weapons that could threaten Israel, but was also being seduced by the lifestyle and trappings of his other persona, living extravagantly, spending money freely, and even marrying a German woman.

Only when the subterfuge was exposed, and Ze'ev/Wolfgang stood trial in the Egyptian high court in 1965 facing a possible death sentence, did his family realise how distant he had become from them. Oded has remained silent on the subject of his father for some 40 years, but he opens up in Nadav Schirman's striking documentary, confronting the consequences of his father's dangerous life of secrets and deceit.

Schirman also managed to gain the confidence of a number of Mossad veterans, who are remarkably frank in talking about Lotz's activities in Egypt, and employs a jazz score and home movies to evocative effect.

A stylish film telling an astonishing story worthy of Hollywood, it's no surprise that The Champagne Spy is currently being adapted for an English-language fiction feature.

Michael Hayden