Ashraf Marwan, the son-in-law of Egypt’s ex-president Gamal Abdel Nasser, sits in front of the TV in a room in London, watching the news on the escalation over the Suez Canal. He moves restlessly, pondering. The next scene shows him placing a call to the Israeli ambassador from a public phone — the first step of his close cooperation with Israeli intelligence that earns him the code name “the in-law” or, more widely, “the angel.”

These scenes appear in the trailer for a new film from global production company Netflix, “The Angel.” It was inspired by the book “The Angel: The Egyptian Spy who Saved Israel” by Israeli author Yuri Bar Joseph.

Directed by Ariel Vromen, the film shows how Marwan, played by Dutch actor Marwan Kenzari, started his liaison with Israeli intelligence shortly before Nasser's demise. The communications grew deeper and his intelligence more valuable after Anwar al-Sadat took power and appointed Marwan as his security adviser. During this period, Marwan divulged sensitive information on the Egyptian preparations to carry out an all-out attack against the occupied territories in Sinai. The information revealed to Israel included the date of the planned attack — Oct. 6, 1973 — which helped Israel mobilize its forces. 

But others, particularly on the Egyptian side, believe that Marwan’s story has another face. In 2007, a week after Marwan’s mysterious death, President Hosni Mubarak called Marwan “a patriot loyal to his country.” Mubarak told reporters that Marwan carried out “patriotic acts which it is not time yet to reveal,” and said he was “not a spy for any organization at all.” People who believe that Marwan was a patriot think that the young businessman approached Israel in cooperation with Egypt’s leadership to dupe the Israelis into believing that they had a well-placed spy at the center of power in Cairo. He gave Israel misleading information, including that Egypt was ready to launch an offensive in April 1973.