"Golda" by Guy Nattiv (2023)

I would go trough the fire and high water to see Helen Mirren in anything, but her latest movie came as a bit if disappointment, if not exactly by her own fault. You see, every time when film biopics portray a historical figures, there is always a heavy pressure of being respectful - unfortunately, the sheer reverence results in a predictable, boring movies (unless the movie depicts someone who is remembered as evil, which contradictory, works very well in the movies). The best example is 2012 "Lincoln" by Steven Spielberg that was boring as hell, because nobody dared to say anything bad about Lincoln and eventually it just ended up as a dry history lesson. Even recent 2021 "Respect" was bland and predictable, because of well, respect for Aretha Franklin (and her estate that would not approve of anything that has not been sanitised and whitewashed). In general, biopics are extremely difficult to make - from top of my head I recall 2012 "Hitchcock" that was very good (and included excellent Helen Mirren) because it had a new, interesting approach - it was not a biopic but it depicted only one chapter in Hitchcock's life, the time leading to his creation of "Psycho". That was actually an intelligent, entertaining and well done movie, where time was not wasted on trying to explain someone's whole life but we were there in a moment, understanding it is year 1959 and what was going on around the main characters. There was no pressure of squeezing someone's life in two hours.

"Golda" follows similar idea - what was happening around 1973 when Israel was simultaneously attacked by neighbouring Egypt and Syria. This was also time when Golda Meir was prime minister and she knew very well that she completely depends on help of US. Hence her reluctance to instantly react to the threat, because she knew too well that if Israel strike first, it will get no help from anybody.

This decision eventually made her very unpopular at home (and it led to her resignation afterwards) but to be honest, it was a very dangerous time and with Soviet Union backing Arabs and US backing Israel, it was actually very close to a nuclear war. 

Helen Mirren is buried under all those prosthetic that made her look like dowdy, grandmotherly Meir and she was not really given space to examine her character's feelings or opinions - she is constantly surrounded by the clouds of cigarette smoke, hiding in the basements with her ministers, people crowding around her as some Queen Bee, manoeuvreing her diplomatic contacts with Henry Kissinger and trying her best to save the country - it sounds much better than it actually is, because the final result is a gloom & doom that drags a bit and never really catches fire. This has nothing to do with a excellent cast and everything to do with Israeli director Guy Nattiv who is too reverent for his own good and the movie is simply too careful not to stir any controversy - it might have worked out better if he gave his historical characters some humanity. Curiously, at the end of the movie we see a clip of real Golda Meir who was charming, witty and engaging - completely unlike the stoic faced portrayal of her in this movie.