“Golda” arrives at the M.V. Film Center on Thursday, Oct. 19, and also plays Oct. 21 and 22. Unfortunately, this 2023 biography of Israel’s first woman prime minister comes during the current Israeli-Hamas conflict.
Based on a true story, the film is no ordinary hagiography, but describes Golda Meir’s role leading her country during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Written by Nicholas Martin and directed by Guy Nattiv, it stars Oscar winner Helen Mirren as Meir, the “iron lady of Israel.” Another celebrated actor, Liev Schreiber, plays Henry Kissinger, and Camille Cottin plays the prime minister’s assistant, Lou Kaddar.
Viewers see Meir as a compulsive cigarette smoker, and her smoke comes to symbolize the smoke of war as well as her cancer. Born in Ukraine and raised in Milwaukee, as Israel’s fourth prime minister she led her country during the Egyptian and Syrian invasions of Oct. 6, 1973. At the same time, she underwent cobalt treatments for lymphoma. Her illness is compellingly depicted as she walks past rows of the feet of the dead.
Israel faces annihilation when Egypt and Syria invade the nation. Things heat up in October when Mossad, Israel’s intelligence agency, learns that Egypt and Syria are planning an invasion of Israel. Meir is dismissive, with support from her defense minister, Moshe Dayan (Rami Heuberger).
On Oct. 6, the prime minister learns that Egypt has assembled forces along the Suez Canal. An attack is planned for sundown. Meir has not prepared in advance, and now orders a partial mobilization to face the coming attack. To her surprise, the attack comes early. Sent to inspect the Golan Heights, Dayan discovers Syria has launched an attack against unprepared Israeli troops. He offers to resign, but Meir persuades him to stay. A significant cinematic incident occurs when the Arab military first use the name “Israel.”
Meir is shown to be a powerful figure in negotiating the defeat of Egypt and Syria, but at the same time, viewers watch her progressive deterioration from lymphoma. When Henry Kissinger visits and urges a ceasefire, the film illustrates the nature of American involvement in the war, as well as warning of a Soviet threat that could come in 18 hours. Meir continues with her own plans, forcing Egypt into talks.
By the 20th day, diplomatic talks continue, as well as the agreement to exchange POWs, effectively ending the war. Viewers see the toll the war has taken on an aging and ill Meir.
The next year, 1974, the prime minister testifies before the Agranat Commission about her conduct, and she explains that despite an initial uncertainty, her belief was that war was imminent. She is cleared, and later is shown seeing the signing of the Camp David Accords, the first formal peace agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Four years later, Meir dies while watching footage of her meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
As well as describing the prime minister’s legendary role in a crucial period of Israeli history,
“Golda” serves as a historical thriller worth watching.
Information and tickets for “Golda” are available at mvfilmsociety.com.
“Unfortunately”?? The timing couldn’t be better.
Jackie, thank you for your sweet words under the article on Israel. ❤️I wanted to reply to you and others, but the comments have been locked.
You’ve done an admirable, compassionate job of explaining the history of the conflict. I’m so incredibly sorry for what has happened and what you’re noticing online—the lack of support across social media. I see it, too. It simply should not be this hard for Americans, of all people, to affirm that Jewish lives matter and that you deserve to live in safety, without fear. 🙏🏻
Thank you so much, Katie. And thank you to Carl Kelly and Andrew Engelman, too.
“Unfortunately, this 2023 biography of Israel’s first woman prime minister comes during the current Israeli-Hamas conflict.”
I have thought about this sentence for days, and I was wondering if the reviewer could please explain why she thinks it is “unfortunate” for this movie to come out now?
Another kind of review of Golda, with a trailer:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/movies/golda-review.html
And a real interview with the real person:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3FGvAMvYpc
I refrained from talking about the war on this thread, but since the lead paragraph of this review mentions the Hamas/Israel war, I hope it is fair to the moderator that we continue the conversation, since there’s already some kind of unexplained and questionable judgement of the timing (what about it?) being “unfortunate” because of the war.
Like Katie, my last contribution to the thread that is now closed, but written in response to Carl Kelly, didn’t make it in. Here it is, typos and all: “Thank you, Carl. True. I was aware of what you wrote and did not forget. In fact, you were the only one to say your prayers were with Israel. Had to be dragged out of some, and only after listening to them gloss over Israel’s suffering, or failure to mention it entirely– and lissten to them go straight to the sitting ducks in Gaza whose blood is already on the terrorists’s, Hamas’s, hands.
I know liberal left Americans who are calling israel a terrorist nation, on stolen land, committing war crimes, apartheid nation, and on and on. They change their Facebook profile pics as fast as I change my socks, but they go according to whose tragic story is popular on their outrage meter that day– maybe its a sunflower used to express their compassio and solidarity, a BLM poster, a rainbow.
I wonder how many feminists are protesting at anti-Israel rallies? How many from the LGBQT community?
One genius liberal who comments at the Times criticized a headline on another story, because it seemed to be “siding” with Israel.
Speaking of friends, what else I find shocking is that my white, non-Jewish, liberal left friends were so open to examining the unconscious, subconscious ways they promote today’s systemic racism, without reailzing it, while consciously and actively being against racism– speaking out, protesting, attending vigils for murdered black innocents, (and of course, changing their profile pic). There is no such self-examination or self-awareness when it comes systemic antisemitism, to Israel and Jews, and the accepted ways in which non-Jews express blame and hatred and unwillingness to accept Israel.
Of all the countries in the world, Israel is the only country on the planet, the only one, and a democracy to boot, and no less flawed than any other democracy, whose legitimacy to exist is questioned, and not just by antisemites in the Middle East. Look at how many on the liberal left go immediately to the minutia of the 1947-1948 formation of Israel as a homeland for Jews, questioning how what when where and why and making up out of context nonsense, giving legitimacy to many in the pro-palestinian movement who don’t want peaceful coexistence, but rather, to push Israel out of existence and kill all jews.
You know, last night the BBC reported, via Hamas, that Israel had bombed a hospital in Gaza, killing more than 500 innocent Gazans taking refuge there. It is believed, even by Palestinians, that the IDF will not purposely kill innocents, not out of revenge, not out of anything. Other reputable news agencies starting reporting the same, Israel bombed a hospital. Israel immediately denied it. Then news outlets finally reported that Hamas said Israel did it, but Israel denied that it came from them. Then AlJezeera reported, WITH A VIDEO, that is was a misfired rocket from Gaza that was responsible. But the damage was done. There were violent anti-Israel protests in response in Beirut and I don’t know where else. Then I saw Anderson Cooper on CNN question an IDF guest in disbelief when the the Israeli tried to tell him there is evidence, proof, that is was a misfired rocket from Gaza that did the damage. I haven’t turned on the news today. I’m afraid to.
How is it, that the BBC, and then other outlets that followed, quickly reported on, with info FROM TERRORISTS, an unverified accusation, immediately and adamently denied by Israel, that Israel bombed a hospital? They didn’t do it. But the world doesn’t care. Since when do reputable news agencies report unverified news, (from terrorists) wihtout waiting to check it out? When? When it’s the Jews being blamed. Jews and Israel are blamed for everything, why bother to verify it.
Let’s say there is no more Israel after today. Would the Middle East Arab nations then live in peace when there are no more Jews to blame for their failures? History certainly says no, but it’s nice for them and the world to have a scape goat now, isn’t it, my former friends on the liberal left?
When i was still very young in the early 50s, the Holocaust was very raw in my family. My grandmother told me stories that made my hair curl and gave me recurring nightmares. We lived in a small town as the only Jewish family, so all my friends at school were Christian. There was no antisemitism that I noticed from non-Jews until high school. But one odd thing i did back then as a very young child, without realizing it was not what little girls think about normally, was to look at this girl or that one, and wonder to myself, would she hide me when the Nazis came back? Would she bring me food? I’d forgotten I’d done that in my early years growing up… until 11 days ago.”
And now, days after the tragic explosion at the hospital (or in the parking lot) where many innocents were killed, turns out it was definitely from a misfired rocket in Gaza– Even with proof, Israel is blamed and not believed–Holocaust deniers, slaughter deniers, and now misfired rockets inside Gaza that killed palestinians are blamed on Israel anyway, who cares who’s to blame when there are jews who can always be blamed? I saw one interview by a western news outlet of an IDF spokesman. The interviewer asked something like, ‘So, does Israel understand that had they not retaliated with bombs to Gaza, there never would have been these hospital deaths of innocents at all, from misfired rockets or from anything?” That’s one way to put it… if you’re an antisemite. How about, if Hamas hadn’t meticulously planned an unprovoked slaughter and kidnapping of innocent civilians inside Israel, there’d be no war and no worldwide violence against jews OR muslims going on now?
I for one would like our media to put this attack in perspective that we as Americans living in the safety of our homes can understand. Think of it this way 1,100 dead Jews is the equivalent to 40,000 in the USA. Over 2,000 injured is the equivalent to 74,000 in the USA. If that doesn’t scare people into reality nothing will. Can you imagine how you would feel waking up to an attack in this country where 40,000 killed and another 74,000 injured. If my math is off based on population variable my apologies but it won’t change the shock factor.
I’ve had a few comments censored since the paper reported on anyting about israel since October 7th. Who knows why?
Again:
“Unfortunately, this 2023 biography of Israel’s first woman prime minister comes during the current Israeli-Hamas conflict.”
It’s possible that Ms Robards found the situation in the Middle East, and the world-wide reaction, understandably so horrifying that it was difficult to write any review of this movie, so she made a negative judgment about the timing of the movie coming out, even though I saw it as good timing.
Meanwhile, some around the world consider the the entire movie, “unfortunate”. The movie is too pro-Israel, especially for antisemites.
Arab News published a review with the following headline: “New Golda Meir movie sells war crimes as empowerment”. The review is written by Ramzy Baroud, a well known journalist in the Middle East, who happens to be a rabid antisemite.
Here’s how that review opens:
“A new movie glorifying the legacy of Zionist leader and fourth Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was released in selected theaters in the US and Europe in August. The movie is typical Israeli propaganda.”
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2384156#:~:text=A%20new%20movie%20glorifying%20the,movie%20is%20typical%20Israeli%20propaganda.
Israel is bombing Gaza. Gaza always bombs Israel. Israel has bomb shelters and developed the iron dome. Hamas has built air conditioned tunnels to stock arms and hide in, below civilian schools and hospitals. Civilians are instructed by Hamas told not to heed the israeli warnings of imminent bombs. Israel instructs Israeli civilians near the border with Lebanon to evacuate. Gaza has no water– their pipes were dug up to use for bombs. Why, with all the money Hamas receives in aid for the Palestinian people are there no desalinization plants within Gaza? Why are surrounding Muslim nations silent about innocent Gazans in the line of fire, thanks to Hamas, saying and doing nothing to help the innocent? Why is it that the country that was so brutally attacked, is now attacked for being attacked??? Why can’t the huge trucks with aid coming across the Egyptian border go back from Gaza with Gazan refugees, instead of going back to the safety of Egypt empty, at least until the bombs stop? Why aren’t there any bomb shelters in Gaza, after all, Gaza sends bombs to Israel every day of the week? Do they think Israel will not get serious about bombing the hell out of Hamas because when they do, every Jew on the planet will be in danger, if we aren’t already? Was that part of the meticulous planning with help from Iran?
The deniers will say the unbearable photos and videos coming out today are fake, just like the holocaust was fake. Look at these photos of what were once human beings and tell me again, ‘Hamas are “freedom fighters”‘, not the debased, deranged, EVIL beings, lower than any animal on earth, they have proven themselves to be.
I am sorry that my hope for peace means that this is now the season, the time for war. To everything there is a season. There is nothing new under the sun. None of this has not happened before. You can’t have peace when one side does not want it. You can’t have a two state solution when one side would rather “martyr” themselves and their people in death than live peacefully next to a Jewish nation, land indigenous to Jews.
When anti-Israel protesters start screaming ‘PALESTINE WILL BE FREE, FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA’, they obviously don’t mean Gaza and the West Bank. They mean all of Israel needs to go. Clearly, Baroud’s review of this film, lies and all, is intended to promote the Jew-hating, anti-Israel effect he espouses. How dare there be a movie that makes Israel and Golda Meir look human?
The liberal left get defensive when you notice their antisemitism. “You can be against the government of Israel and not hate Jews. You can care about Jews and be pro-Palestinian”, as they lock arms with those who’ve cheered the slaughtering of Israeli families and say not a word about those who rip down posters of kidnapped Israeli children.
Why, oh why, is the lilberal left protesting with those who justify the Israeli slaughter inside homes and at a concert, with the excuse: this is what happens when Palestinians get angry and hungry…. The liberal left seems to agree with the old ‘she (Israel) was asking for it’, as the violent domestic abuser always says after he kills his wife.
It’s interesting to me that people on the left who care about human rights, gay rights, women’s rights, you know, freedoms, don’t support Israel. Remind me, please, what freedom means to Palestinians and how women, gays, and non-Muslims are treated in Gaza by their government run by Hamas, the ones they elected? What has Hamas done for Gazans, Palestinians, in the last 17 years, aside from indoctrinated them that hating and killing Jews is a good thing?
Here’s a Wall Street Journal article: “Liberals need a reckoning with anti-semitism on their side”. I should say so.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/liberals-need-a-reckoning-with-anti-semitism-on-their-side-fdb1f396
Russia has bombed over 200 health care facilities in Ukraine, but our liberal left friends want to carry on about a Hamas lie, which they believed and helped spread, where a misfired rocket from Islamic Jihad inside Gaza, fell in a Gazan parking lot. The liberal left has moved on from sunflowers and the Ukrainian flag. Their profile pics are back to themselves. They never dared use the Israeli flag on October 7th, lest they seem like uncool Israel supporters.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/03/16/1086982186/russias-strike-on-ukraine-maternity-hospital-is-part-of-a-terrible-wartime-tradi
Really, who would be left to blame for everything if all the Jews were gone?
There’s an expression in Yiddish, translated into English, goes something like this: “Im not talking to anyone specifically. If you think I am talking to you, you are exactly who I am talking to.
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