Golda

Too minimalistic, it lacked details about Golda's rich life. It left me with many questions and dissatisfaction. She deserves more than just showing her part in the war and the peace with Egypt.

Her legacy is nothing compared to who she was, to what she did, to how she even became the first female president ever. The struggles she went throughout her political career are not only the war. The movie should have been named 'Kipur War' and not 'Golda' since it didn't even SHOW Golda as a whole. Iv'e expected to know her more and have more personal outlook on her life. Either way- I appreciate Hellen and her marvelous acting skills.

"The only man in my cabinet." David Ben-Gurion praising Golda Meir

Aided by an accomplished cast that includes Liev Schrieber as the redoubtable Henry Kissinger, whose secretary of state is also as brilliant as history has shown him, this docudrama, Golda, draws us into the machinations of a cloistered foggy war. It would be difficult to fictionalize the drama of fall 1973, when Egypt and Syria, seeing Israel becoming complacent after its victory over the Arabs in 1967, starts the Yom Kippur War to gain back The Golan Heights and The Sinai Peninsula.

What's new is Arab support by Russia, putting The US in a precarious position as a supporter of Israel and yet a customer for Arab oil. The moral ambiguity of the situation dogs USA to this day.

"Golda" is a biopic and docudrama from Israel's point of view and that of Golda Meir (Helen Mirren), Israel's 4th prime minister.

Director Guy Nattiv and writer Nicholas Martin keep the drama centered on Mirren, who interprets The Iron Lady with uncompromising integrity and rough beauty to let us know Meir was everything legend had of her, and more. She's a lady who agonizes over every soldier lost to the war yet barks, "Teach our enemies a lesson they'll never forget."

From the bun in her hair to chain smoking, Golda is a walking contradiction of smarts and weaknesses. Mirren keeps her eyes on Golda's subjects with piercing focus to make even the self-reliant Henry Kissinger uncomfortable. Her secret operations for lymphoma are emblems of her private life of suffering that promise she won't live past 80.

Just as Christopher Nolan did with Churchill in Dunkirk, while we all can learn the facts from historical accounts, little else can be as informative and insightful as a well-made docudrama.

And that's what Golda is!

I was around when all this took place, I was a young career man with wife and kids in 1973. I remember her well, from the news, but knew nothing of her.

This is not a bio-pic, it covers only a very focused part of her life, namely the 1973 Yom Kippur war. On October 6, 1973, an Arab coalition of Egyptian and Syrian forces launched a surprise attack on Israel on Yom Kippur-the Jewish holy day of atonement.

Helen Mirren in full prosthetic makeup is almost a dead ringer for Prime Minister Golda Meir. At one point she says she is a politician not a military leader, in her frustration at not getting her head wrapped around the conflict and what they should do. But as the days advance she makes a number of tough decisions after her military leaders present options.

All this was going on while she was battling cancer at the age of 75, and receiving radiation treatments. And the year after a truce was reached, having to answer to an inquiry about the actions she took. She died in 1978.

This is a well-made movie that tells an interesting and important story in the history of Israel. And especially now, in the fall of 2023, when Hamas recently attacked Israel and a full-fledged war is in progress as I write this. Why can't everyone get along?

My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

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.

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.