SHELTER by Carol Kaufman Segal

            Shelter is a film of almost constant intrigue that takes place in Germany.  It involves Naomi, an Israeli Mossad agent (Neta Rikin) and Mona (Golshifteh Farahani), a Lebanese informant for the Mossad.

            Since she was discovered, Mona’s life has been in jeopardy.  Naomi has been sent to a safe house, a shelter in Hamburg to protect Mona as she recovers from plastic surgery that she has undergone to change her appearance.  Just the two of them, marooned day after day, is awkward at first.  But after two weeks of being alone under dire conditions, the women develop a close relationship.  During that period, I also developed an affectionate feeling towards their characters, hoping for a pleasant outcome for both. 

            All throughout the two-week period, the enemy tries to close in on their prey, and all that while, the intrigue builds up in this tense film by Erin Riklis, who also directed.  Others in the cast include Lior Ashkenazi, Haluk Bilginer, Yehuda Almagor, and Mark Waschke)

The film is in English, Hebrew, and Arabic.  Running time is 93 minutes.