Golda

Greetings again from the darkness. More than forty years have passed since the great Ingrid Bergman portrayed Israel Prime Minister Golda Meir in the TV miniseries, A WOMAN CALLED GOLDA (1982). Fighting through cancer during filming, it was Ms. Bergman's final role, and she won a posthumous Emmy for a performance that left quite a mark on this young (at the time) viewer. Guy Nattiv won an Oscar for his excellent short film, SKIN (2018), and here he takes on a narrow, yet vital window in the term of Golda Meir ... a time when the survival of her country was in jeopardy. The screenplay was written by Nicholas Martin (FLORENCE FOSTER JENKINS, 2016).

Under heavy make-up and facial prosthetics, Oscar winner Helen Mirren expertly captures the essence of Golda Meir at a time she was carrying an unimaginable burden. The opening shoots through a quick slideshow of history before settling into 1973 and the escalating conflict between the Arab states (led by Egypt and Syria) and Israel. Despite the presence of some intelligence warning of such, Israel was caught off-guard by the surprise attack, and found themselves scrambling for the next 3 weeks - the period that makes up the core of the movie. Slump-shouldered and chain-smoking (sometimes defiantly), we see Golda making huge decisions between trips for lymphoma treatments. Her decisions would be the determining factor on how many soldiers would die, and whether Israel would remain independent.

It's the level and question of that intelligence that provides the film's framing structure of Golda Meir appearing before the Agranat Commission - a commission designed to render after-the-fact judgment on her decision-making and war strategy. As we witness, some of that strategy involves gut feelings and instincts, yet what the film makes clear is that Golda understands war kills real people - these aren't just numbers in a report. Included in these meetings are the Minister of Defense, Moshe Dyan (Rami Heuberger), Chief of Staff "Dodo" Elazar (Lior Ashkenazi), and Field General (and future Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon (Ohad Knoller). Camille Cotton plays Golda's longtime personal assistant Lou Kaddar, and some of the best scenes are the private conversations between U. S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber) and Golda, as she pushes for assistance and support, with Kissinger in a tough spot.

This Yom Kippur War lasted barely three weeks, yet the profound stress of war-induced decisions is obvious in Golda, as is her stance as a tough leader. For her, this did not mean sacrificing human emotions, but rather being decisive, communicative, and surrounding yourself with a capable team ... although disloyalty in her administration is hinted at by some. Golda lived (just) long enough to witness the infamous Treaty signed by Menachim Begin and Answar Sadat, a treaty made possible through her leadership.

The film more closely resembles DARKEST HOUR (2017), with Gary Oldman's Oscar-winning performance as Winston Churchill during WWII, than THE QUEEN (2006), Ms. Mirren's own Oscar-winning turn as Queen Elizabeth. Actual newsclips are mixed in for historical perspective and the score by Dascha Dauenhauer leans heavily on dramatic stringed instruments. A final song by Leonard Cohen caps things off. While it's true that most of the storytelling doesn't reach the level of Ms. Mirren's performance, that performance is enough to convey the high stakes involved.

Opens on August 25, 2023.

Academy Award Winner Helen Mirren really played well as Golda Meir. She got her mannerisms, her wit, her kindness, her intelligence, and even physical posture right. Taking place during the Yom Kippur War, this film goes into detail bout the politics behind the scenes and Golda's physical and emotional turmoil as she leads down a disastrous road of death and pain. The film tells of the politics behind the war like a decent thriller because sometimes less is more showing emotions of people as they listen to the war through radio communications. As great as Mirren is as Golda, it's the script showing a war but not the details that anyone can keep up with. The film can be unbalanced at times showing too much info without giving a clear concise telling of a story. The film may suffer with its storytelling but Helen Mirren is a good reason to watch this movie.

The dame Helen Mirren is simply a joy to watch in every role she takes on, unfortunately this film does very little outside of what she offers. All five stars out of ten are hers. I know it is a biopic and that the focus is supposed to be on Golda, but they don't do the time period justice whatsoever. They don't set the stage in any way and instead focus on all of these cinematic gimmicks that I assume they thought would get the film high praise. Even within the biopic part itself we don't really get to find out what makes her tick. We mostly just watch her smoking the entire time and every now and then making decisions. They could have given this conflict and Golda a much better deserving effort.

Having experienced the Yom Kippur War living 10 minutes from Israel's border with both Syria and Jordan, I was very interested to see Golda. There is a lot in this film that captures aspects of Israeli mentality and culture, presented in such a subtle way that it is not until after viewing the film may become apparent to someone who reflects on what the film portrayed.

More than anything, however, Golda is about Golda. It might surprise some viewers to realize that much of her persona was shaped by having escaped the pogroms of what is now the Ukraine. She was only a child when her family came as immigrants to the US and the film shows a side of her haunted by what might have been had they not made it to a safer country.

Another interesting element of her story is illustrated by her exchanges with Henry Kissinger. To avoid a "spoiler" I will instead urge the viewer to pay close attention to the inter-actions between them, always behind closed doors.

Golda is a history lesson wrapped in a biography. It is solid film making with good writing, directing and an outstanding performance from Helen Mirren. It captures an amazing phenomenon: the experience of war time leadership born on the shoulders (and in the kitchen) of a woman who carried this burden with incredible courage, sensitivity, intelligence, and honesty.

Many of the negative reviews here focus on the historical inaccuracies this movie makes of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, but the movie isn't really about the war itself. Instead it's about Golda's own personal struggle to overcome cancer, fear, old age, and the many stresses of war to become the leader her nation needed at that exact moment in time. It is a brilliant performance by Helen Mirren that should be enjoyed for Golda's own personal journey rather than for the accuracy of the battles portrayed in the movie. If you put these inaccuracies aside, you will watch a performance worthy of an Oscar and a story of triumph in the face of almost certain defeat.