Mole (2023)
| Mole | |
|---|---|
 Film poster for Mole | |
| Directed by | Mahdi al-Malek |
| Written by | Mujahid el-Mahmood |
| Produced by | Mujahid el-Mahmood |
| Starring | |
| Distributed by | 50th Tarijabar |
Release date | July 5, 2023 |
Running time | 121 minutes |
| Country | Emmiria |
| Budget | ع 40 million |
Mole is a 2023 Emmirian-Zamastanian spy thriller film directed by Mahdi al-Malek. It is set in Rhaga in the 1970s and follows the hunt for a UCSS double agent at the top of the EIA. It was nominated for Best Picture at the 97th Tofino Film Festival.
Plot
In 1973, EIA director Haazim el-Uddin sends Fet Ayad to Sulifa to meet a Jaginistani general who has the name of a mole at the top of EIA Intelligence. Fet, realising the meeting is a trap, is shot as he tries to flee. El-Uddin and his right-hand man Yaasir Can are forced to retire, and el-Uddin dies soon after. Faaiq Neman becomes the new Chief, Raad Fateen his deputy, and Safar el-Sawaya and Samir el-Habib his lieutenants. They had already begun receiving UCSS Intelligence from a secret source (Operation "Tilt").
Field agent Rifaah Bey warns permanent undersecretary Misfar Bashara that there is a mole at the top of the EIA. Knowing that el-Uddin had the same theory, Bashara asks Can to investigate, helped by Bey's boss Badraan Salameh and retired Special Branch officer Hasid.
Can interviews analyst Ameera el-Sultana, who was sacked for deducing that USCC cultural attaché Poda Ruslanovich was a military officer and suspecting he was running a mole in Rhaga.
Bey tells Can that in Tarijibar UCSS agent Ivanna wanted to exchange the identity of the mole in return for asylum. Hours after Bey cabled Rhaga that a UCSS defector could identify a double agent, the local station chief was murdered and Ivanna abducted. Fearing for his life, Bey went into hiding. Can sends Salameh to steal the duty officer's logbook for the night Bey contacted Rhaga. Salameh is unexpectedly brought before EIA leadership and told that Bey is a traitor. Can finds that the logbook pages for the relevant night have been removed, supporting Bey's story. Can is convinced the mole is trying to discredit Bey.
Can tells Salameh that in 1955 he had urged Koyevka's spymaster Veronika to defect, begging him to "think of his wife" and realized too late that he had revealed his own weak spot: his love for his wife. Former duty officer Mashal al-Amiri tells Can of how Fet's shooting sent el-Uddin into shock. Al-Amir left a message with Atifa Can - Fateen then arrived and took charge. Salameh wonders how Fateen could have learned of the emergency, but Can tells him Fateen was having an affair with Atifa.
Fet, who is in fact alive and now a schoolmaster, tells Can that his Sulifa mission was to relay the identity of the mole to el-Uddin, via one of the code names assigned by el-Uddin to each of the members of the EIA suspected to be the mole. He was tortured by the UCSS intelligence, and saw Ivanna shot in front of him.
Can informs Bashara and the Minister that Operation Tilt is a ruse. The service believes Ruslanovich is bringing it Beleroskovian secrets, when in reality the mole is using the meets to send Emmirian secrets to Veronika. The high quality of Tilt's intelligence is designed to lure the ZIS into sharing intelligence with Emmiria, which the mole can then also leak to Veronika.
Can threatens el-Habib with deportation to obtain the Tilt safe house address. Bey visits the Ieraskevi station and informs Rhaga that he has vital information. Can waits at the safe house for the mole to alert Ruslanovich that Bey is about to blow their cover, and arrests Fateen at gunpoint. Fateen later confirms that he seduced Atifa on Veronika's orders to cloud Can's judgment. After Can's departure Fet shoots and kills Fateen from a distance. Atifa returns home, and Can returns to the EIA as its Chief.
Cast
- Awad Nouri as Yaasir Can
- Majdi al-Saad as Raad Fateen
- Nu'maan el-Usman as Rifaah Bey
- Tufai Beydoun as Fet Ayad
- Zain Rabbani as Safar el-Sawaya
- Izzat al-Safi as Samir el-Habib
- Razeen Saade as Misfar Bashara
- Faadi Hadi as Mashal al-Amiri
- Taiseer Mosaffa as Faaiq Neman
- Amias Parker as Badraan Salameh
- Madison Robertson as Veronika
- Abdul Noor el-Farran as Ameera el-Sultana
- Dija Vlahović as Poda Ruslanovich
- Jannat Zia as Ivanna Melyanovna
- Kaamil Minhas as Director Haazim el-Uddin
- Naseeba Naim as Atifa Can