Review: “Golda” — The Weight of History
Anchored by another Oscar-worthy performance by Helen Mirren, this potentially riveting film based on the real-life events surrounding the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s falls a little flat, frankly.
Which is all the more disappointing considering that, with what is currently going in the Middle East — in a region almost identical to that where the action in “Golda” takes place — this could have been illustrative. Instructive, even.
The relatively brief War, here, involved acts of aggression by Egypt’s Anwar Sadat and Syria’s elder Hassad against the still, at that time, unrecognized Sovereign state of Israel. Knowing what we now know it seems like Israel has been at war with its Arab neighbors since it was founded. Or they have been at War with it, depending on your point of view.
I appreciate that Guy Natiiv’s film keeps its laser-like focus on the titular, chain-smoking Prime Minister, Golda Meir. As stated, Mirren’s performance is extraordinary. If Lily Gladstone doesn’t win the Best Actress Oscar for “Killers of the Flower Moon”, I suspect Mirren will get many votes and may win for her naturalistic take on a titanic female politician. Her shambling, chain-smoking, gravelly-voiced affect would seem to be, literally, channeling Meir.
But, as a reviewer I admire once said of another film, the whole thing feels a little “stagey”. Like the sets, lighting, and the co-stars and supporting cast are only there to highlight Mirren’s explication of a woman who, but my understanding, was complex, and brilliant. And that is really the problem with “Golda”, for, as much as we can admire Mirren’s performance, we don’t really learn a whole lot about the woman herself, her motivations, her back-story.
No, “Golda” drops us HALO jump style into the very nervous days leading up to the Yom Kippur War. Unless we are students of History, we don’t even know how we got here, although we are given hints by the “Lord of the Rings” style opening montage, and by Nicholas Martin’s competent script, that Israel’s desire to be recognized by the Arab World — and the almost inability of said World to do so — is a strong factor leading up to the War. I will give credit to Martin and Natiiv in explicating the actual military movements, and the desperate decisions that lead to hundreds of Israeli soldiers being killed, but to eventual victory.
I only gave “Golda” three stars, but would have given it three-and-a-half if Amazon allowed me to. I do think the supporting cast is good, and casting Liev Schreiber (by a country mile one of our most under-rated American Actors) as Henry Kissinger was a stroke of genius. The scenes between Meir and Kissinger are a master class in great acting.
But, alas, moments like these are few and far between. When, finally, the person Golda gets her wish, and Sadat officially recognizes the State of Israel, the film “Golda” doesn’t seem to have earned that moment. It is an extraordinary moment. But the weight of History was perhaps too much for the film-makers.
