What’s it like to be a part of the toughest negotiations on the planet? How do you bring two enemies to the table to discuss peace?

In The Human Factor, from Oscar®-nominated documentary filmmaker Dror Moreh (The Gatekeepers), the viewer gets a glimpse inside the Middle East peace negotiations by some of the American mediators who fought for a deal that could stabilize the region. Exploring the course of 30 years of negotiations spanning across five U.S. presidencies, this documentary explores what happened and what went wrong.

"It’s a daunting task to reach peace between two enemies," Moreh said of the peace process, comparing it to the partisanship within the United States.

"To reach a consensus between democrats and republicans in America on one subject is difficult. In that sense, you put two sworn enemies together and you want them to give up a part of their dreams, their aspirations — how can you go into such a process without creating a bond with the leader in front of you of trust that both of you want to reach a higher goal?"

No one discussed how to create that bond or deal with that issue of getting two enemies together, or what Moreh has labeled "the human factor."

"I was wondering from the perspective of the professionals who were inside the room, what really happened," Moreh said.

"Normally we get the photo-op and well-crafted statements of what happened inside, and I wanted to understand what happened and why it failed. This was the primary objective when I started."

Moreh chose to start the documentary at a point in time when the United States had just become the only superpower. Not only had the Berlin Wall come down, but America had just successfully expelled Saddam Hussein’s forces from Kuwait.

"The United States really stood as the only superpower, which meant it could do whatever it wants," Moreh said.

"One of the basic interests in America was to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians and have stability in the Middle East."

The catalyst for the documentary

Moreh met with Dennis Ross (Middle East envoy under former President Bill Clinton), who is the main protagonist in The Human Factor, at the Aspen Ideas Festival. After a Q&A session for his last movie, Ross inquired what his next project was and Moreh expressed his desire to interview several former secretaries of state.

When asked if he was serious, Moreh responded with, "I want to know why America intervened in Libya and not in Syria."

Ross expressed interest in helping, which led to an interview between Ross and former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, in which they spoke about the Iran nuclear deal in 2016.

"When I got out of the room with Dennis, I said it was such a fascinating hour to listen to and that it almost felt like being in the Oval Office, where a president speaks to one of his advisors," Moreh said.

"He said to me, 'This is exactly what happens inside the White House.'"

Moreh’s inspiration for The Human Factor took hold and he asked Ross if he would be willing to talk about what happened when he was responsible for the negotiations between the Arabs, Israelis and Palestinians.

Moreh was interested in telling the story from the perspective of the American negotiators, not the politicians.

Ross agreed.

Starting the documentary

Once Moreh had the idea for the movie, he and his team started researching and trying to understand what went on from the negotiators’ perspectives and what stories they told. When it came to speaking with his characters, Moreh preferred conducting a series of long interviews, including with Ross (which ran more than 36 hours in total). Each of the others averaged three to four hours, two to three times.

He enters each interview well prepared, including having read a lot of raw material and biographies on the characters, conducting thorough research, and covering almost everything he deems important.

"I’m not precise on sound bites I want to get, it’s more of a conversation," Moreh said of his process. He wanted to hear the personal stories and learn the psychology of the characters; why and what happened and how they felt.

Moreh’s interviews are not scripted, and he tries to have the negotiators delve into the stories they never really told to other people and share the small anecdotes most never heard before.

"With The Human Factor it was more complicated," Moreh said.

"It’s people that speak about leaders not being interviewed so you have to build the empathy, the connection to a character that others are speaking about."

Building the story

With so much source material, it becomes a daunting task to start cutting down the film to a reasonable length.

Moreh’s process begins with transcribing all the interviews and then taking the parts that belong together and putting them in place.

"It’s a process of elimination," he said.

"Take all the stories or text that surrounds one issue, let’s say the Madrid peace conference, so you have all the materials defined and processed in that way. You cut out and shape it."

For the film that runs 106 minutes, the first draft cut was around 27 to 28 hours.

According to Moreh, the biggest revelation was understanding the subject of the human factor.

"You hear about borders, security, right of return, Jerusalem, etc., and you think this is the core ... but if someone wants a process like that to succeed, there has to be something which is connected to the humans there including relationships and if they trust each other."

He adds, "This process had been analyzed and stories have been told a lot. When I understood the core was dealing with the human-factor relations and how it affected the process, it became clear how to shape the movie."

Where documentary filmmakers can start

For Moreh, he sees himself as a political documentarian because this is what influences life.

For other documentary filmmakers, he advises to know the subject and come very well prepared for what you want to tell.

"You have to have a lot of passion," he said.

"People think that by reading something on the Internet, that’s it. It’s much more than that. Another thing is you are trying to speak to people — come to listen. Don’t come to say what you think. Try to understand their motivation."

The Human Factor became available on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD Sept. 14, 2021.