GOLDA 🇮🇱 MOVIE REVIEW:

In October 1973, the military forces of Syria and Egypt launched an attack on Israel in what would come to be known as the Yom Kippur War because it was initiated on the holiest day on the Jewish calendar. Although Israel had fended off such an attack in only six days in 1967, this time the country was caught flat-footed and the outcome was far from certain. Before I dive into my review of the film, there is something that needs to be addressed head on. I’ve been reading some of the reviews from critics and in particular many self proclaimed “film buffs” or “experts” on the film site Letterboxd who are trashing this movie because they clearly hate Jewish people and wrongfully believe Israel is an apartheid regime with absolutely no right to exist. The vitriol and hypocrisy from many of these sanctimonious progressive “film buff” hacks has never been more apparent and if you’re thinking of watching this movie with such an attitude of hatred towards Jews/Israel, don’t even bother. There’s a difference between constructive criticism of a film and blatant antisemitism that many critics have seemed to forget. I can talk all day about the leftist double standards in how they treat Jewish people and Israel in comparison to other minority groups, but that’s a discussion for another time. Now onto the review.

Directed by Israeli filmmaker Guy Nattiv, Golda tells the story of the tough decisions that Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir had to make during the Yom Kippur War. First thing is first, casting Helen Mirren as Golda Meir was a stroke of genius. Sure, there’s a heap of makeup on her face, rendering Mirren virtually unrecognizable, but her performance perfectly embodies the charisma, chutzpah, and “boss girl bubbe” type of energy that Golda had. Mirren exudes that tough girl persona and all the mannerisms of the real life Golda Meir to a tee. Not a scene goes by without the aging Golda smoking a cigarette or drinking black coffee and Mirren even brings much needed comic relief to that aspect of the movie. This is a very personalized view of the war and presents Golda as both flawed human and politician who feels the consequences of some of her strategic choices which led to the deaths of many Israeli soldiers. The movie does a great job of letting the viewer see the devastation of the Yom Kippur War through her eyes instead of veering into bombastic generic action movie territory during the battle sequences. During these battles, the film cuts between a bird’s eye view of the tanks on the ground and Golda listening to the horrors take place via radio communication. I found it to be an effective way of working around a lower budget while also making those scenes suspenseful and engaging.

Supporting cast is quite strong, with Rami Heuberger as Moshe Dayan and Ellie Piercy as Shir Shapiro in particular turning in solid performances. However, the big standout among the supporting cast is unsurprisingly Liev Schreiber as US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Schreiber is fairly convincing as Kissinger and although I wished we saw more of the friendship between Henry and Golda, every scene of dialogue with the two are full of diplomatic tension, hard nosed negotiations, and uncomfortable conversations that are very gripping to watch. There is one scene where Golda tells Kissinger about how she used to hide every night from Russians who would beat Jews to death in the streets just for the hell of it. Just powerful stuff, especially if you’re Jewish like I am. It’s genuinely refreshing to see a mainstream movie with such unapologetically pro-Israel/pro-Jewish sentiments and my hope is that we will get more down the line.

Running at 100 minutes and being a time ticking thriller, it’s almost inevitable that certain creative/historical liberties were taken to trim the duration. More could have been done with Ariel Sharon and Moshe Dayan, as their limited screen time doesn’t give them their due credit. There are also some documentary like elements to the film in which real news clips are interspersed specifically within scenes involving Arab/Syrian forces closing in on the Israeli border and this aspect was a bit jarring since 90 percent of the movie is done as a reenactment of those events. Lastly, as I stated in my opening remarks, if you vehemently hate Israel and Jews, this movie will make you go into a fit with antisemitic rantings about “war crimes,” “apartheid”, and “Jewish supremacy.” I state for the record that you are not a person I want to be associated with and you should really reevaluate your life choices and moral values. Overall, where Golda may only scratch the surface of a larger historical picture, it excels in being an engaging war drama/character study with a truly compelling performance from Helen Mirren as the Iron Lady of Israel during the Yom Kippur War.