The Champagne Spy (2007) User Reviews

An Israeli secret agent poses as a Nazi in Egypt and gets stuck in his fake ID

[alexdeleonfilm · 8/10 · 12 October 2016]

The Champagne Spy", (Israel, RT 91 minutes), by Nadav Schirman. Viewed at the Seattle Int'l Film Festival, SIFF, 2007. An Israeli secret agent poses as a Nazi in Egypt and so completely fuses with his cover identity that he finds it impossible to adjust to real life and return to his family when his mission is completed. The career of the champagne spy (so called because of the high society playboy life he led during his espionage years) is seen primarily through the eyes of his son, now himself a middle aged man, who recounts the pain he went through knowing so little about his father and the double life he led. This story is really much more about the effect of the agent's double life on his family than on the ins and outs of espionage itself. With a few changes it could easily be a fiction film and nobody would be the wiser. Says director Schirman, "When I was making it I kept feeling that this was much more of a drama than a straight documentary. With this I think I'm through making documentaries. My next film will be a feature drama." The film screens next at the Los Angeles Film Festiva and VARIETY reports that "Collina Films has signed writer-director Nadav Schirman to pen an English-language adaptation of his documentary "The Champagne Spy." -- Mazel Tov! – but do we really need an "English version?

The Champagne Spy, Excellent Documentary. Wolfgang Lotz.

[shmulik-cohen · 9/10 · 3 June 2007]

Real Documentary of amazing real Spy Story. So well done that many of the characters involved take part. Meir Amit The head of the Mossad in the Sixties and many others. As much Original Photo's and Video Clips as possible. Lotz wrote books (I have one of them) and lectured World wide after the Prisoner Exchange in 1968. Also the main Story Teller is Lotz's Son. They moved to Paris and Lotz would "Go On Important Business" for several months, Leaving his wife and son in Paris. Nadav Schirman the Director has done it very well including exciting music in the BackGround. Egyptians like Spy Stories about Israel, Here is a real One. It is Not 007 Fantasy. The sad parts of the Documentary are also shown. Lotz got so used to High Class Society and Germans that eventually he returned to Germany and died there. His son lives in USA. This is tragic considering what they did for Israel. Lotz Foiled Nazi Scientists Activities in Egypt. Comparable to the Documentary about Marlene Dietrich.