Golda

Fantastic performance by Helen Mirren accompanied by as truthful historical script as you can fit in less than 2 hours of film chronometry.

THIS FILM PROVIDES US WITH VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT HOW ISRAEL WAS ALMOST ANNIHILIATED BY ANWAR EL_SADAT, HAFEZ EL-ASSAD, & MUAMMAR QADDAFI IN 1973. THIS COMES ACROSS EVEN MORE CLEARLY WITH HELEN MIRREN'S INTENSELY POWERFUL PERFORMANCE, WHICH CONVEYED THE ANGUISH THAT MEIR WENT THROUGH DURING THAT TIME- ESPECIALLY DURING THE NIGHTMARE SEQUENCE, IN WHICH DIRECTOR GUY NATTIV POUNDED THE AUDIENCE WITH EXAGGERATED VISUALS & VOICES THAT WERE ECHOING INSIDE MEIR'S MIND. AND, WHEN MS. MIRREN DELIVERED THE SPEECH ABOUT HOW HER FATHER HAD TO BOARD UP HIS HOUSE TO PROTECT HIS FAMILY, & THEN ADDED, "I'M NOT THAT LITTLE GIRL HIDING UNDER THE BED ANYMORE", YOU REALLY GOT A SENSE OF WHY IT IS IMPORTANT FOR JEWISH PEOPLE TO HAVE A SANCTUARY FROM PERSECUTION. ALSO, THE HESITANT DELIVERY THAT LIEV SCHREIBER USED IN HIS PORTRAYAL OF HENRY KISSINGER DISPLAYED THE DILEMMA THAT KISSINGER WAS IN AT THAT TIME. HOWEVER, I WAS TROUBLED BY THE FACT THAT PM MEIR HAD ARIEL SHARON AS ONE OF HER GENERALS BECAUSE OF THE FACT THAT HE ORDERED TROOPS UNDER HIS COMMAND TO BLOW UP THE HOUSES OF JORDANIAN CITIZENS DURING THE 1952 WAR WITH JORDAN WITHOUT CHECKING TO SEE IF THEY WERE OCCUPIED. THAT RESULTED IN THE KILLING OF 69 INNOCENT JORDANIANS. ALTHOUGH HE WAS REBUKED BY THE UN FOR THIS, HE REMAINED PART OF THE ISRAELI MILITARY & LATER BECAME PRIME MINISTER- WHICH WOULD BE EQUIVALENT TO HAVING LT WILLIAM CALLEY BECOME PRESIDENT OF THE US. AND WHAT IT MADE IT WORSE WAS THAT HE LATER TRIED TO JUSTIFY HIS ATROCITY BY SAYING THAT HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN EXPECTED TO HAVE THOSE BUILDINGS CHECKED TO SEE IF THEY WERE OCCUPIED. I DID LIKE THE FACT THAT PM MEIR & PM DAVID BEN-GURION BOTH CONDEMNED THE IRGUN & STERN GANG'S BOMBING OF THE KING DAVID HOTEL IN 1946- WHICH KILLED 91 INNOCENT PEOPLE (17 OF WHOM WERE JEWS). IN FACT, PM BEN-GURION CALLED THE IRGUN "THE ENEMY OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE." BUT A DISTURBING FACT ABOUT BTH MEIR & BEN-GURION WAS REVEALED ABOUT THEM IN A DOCUMENTARY CALLED "BLUE BOX": THEY SUPPORTED BUYING LAND IN ISRAEL THAT WAS OWNED BY ABSENTEE LANDLORDS (MOST OF WHOM WERE NON-PALESTINIAN MUSLIMS) & THEN SELLING THEM TO THE JEWISH RESIDENTS OF ISRAEL. A LOT OF THAT LAND REALLY SHOULD HAVE BEEN SOLD TO THE PALESTINIAN RESIDENTS OF ISRAEL.