- Your idea is to send the Israeli intelligence service
to a Muslim country, to run a fake hotel,
in order to rescue the group of Jews,
who might or might not survive
a thousand-kilometer walk across the desert,
to be smuggled out to sea to an Israeli ship.
- I play a character by the name of Kabede.
He decided to take his people and walk 2,000 miles
through the Sudan desert to Israel.
- I will bring more families.
- We'll find a better way.
- They leased a deserted, Italian diving resort
on the Red Coast to smuggle Ethiopians through Sudan.
- It's really powerful to sit down
and hear some of their stories.
- I came to Israel in Operation Moses in the '80s,
the first exodus of the Ethiopians and Jews.
(dramatic music)
- There was no information, there was just a rumor that
we need to get to Sudan and from there we'll get our help.
At that time, there was a civil war going on
in Ethiopia and crossing the Sudanese desert was
a very long and dangerous journey.
- This operation could not have succeeded
if it was not a combined operation between the Jews
who came from Ethiopia and those who came from Israel.
(piano music)
At the time of those events, I was working
for the Israeli government.
I was trusted with doing the study of how
to evacuate thousands of people
from a warfare zone and bring them to Israel.
And we needed a larger team
so I became commander of this operation.
- Even if this could work, you'd need
a team of agents on the ground.
- You have got to be kidding me.
- I was part of the crew in Sudan
while the operations took place.
During the missions, I was in charge
of the Red Sea Diving Hotel, I was managing it.
This operation was so fulfilling
because you were saving hundreds
of people from a very bad fate.
- He who saves one life saves the world entire.
- We just saved 174.
(sentimental music)
(Reuven speaking foreign language)
(Shay speaking foreign language)
- Pace is on the way home with the entire cargo.
See you in a few days.
(people cheering)
- [Man] Well done Jeff, well done.
- There are still hundreds crossing the border every week.
Thousands more Ethiopians still.
(Shay speaking foreign language)
- My mother, my father, my uncle, many of them was there.
It was about people that dreamed to go back home
and for me, I was born in Israel.
I am there for filming of this story.
- Making this movie was very important
'cause these people risked their life
every day for almost three years to bring us.
- This is not a mission for me, this is my life, my family.
- These people did risk their lives constantly
for years, so if we didn't do that justice,
that would be the biggest disappointment in my opinion.
- Being blessed to come to the mother land
to tell a story about Africans, I am truly humbled.
The spirit of the people is what this is about.
- It was a very important story
to tell to the next generations.
- This movie is about what amazing things
people can do when they reach out to each other.
What I really want people to take from it is
the fact that when you help people,
when you understand that we're all part of the same family,
the world becomes a better place.
(dramatic music)