Full Description
Assaf Basson’s personal documentary is a tribute to his father, an Iraqi Jew who led a double life in Israel as a renowned singer of Arabic music and an agent for Israel’s intelligence service, Mossad. Known by his stage name Magdi, Yitzhak Basson emerges as a man of many contradictions: between his love for Arabic culture and his mission as a Mossad agent, and between his professional life as a singer and his personal life as a family man. Director Basson ventures into the rhythm-filled realm of Iraqi Jews who play Arabic music and visits the shadowy world of Israeli secret agents to reveal his father as a complex and charming human being--a man who loved the company of women, the yearning cadences of Arabic songs and his newly adopted country. Because of his intelligence work, Magdi was forbidden to expose his true identity and for years performed only on the radio in order to maintain his anonymity. A Voice Without a Face explores the price Magdi paid in sacrificing his musical career for his family and country, while taking us on the personal journey of an adult son trying to understand the meaning of his father’s life.
