X
- 2023
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 40 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 40 m
Summary Golda is a ticking-clock thriller set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren), faced with the potential of Israel’s complete destruction, must navigate overwhelming odds, a skeptical cabinet, and a complex relationship with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schrei...
Directed By: Guy Nattiv
Written By: Nicholas Martin
- 2023
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 40 m
- 2023
- PG-13
- Bleecker Street Media
- 1 h 40 m
Golda
48
5.7
Where to Watch
Summary Golda is a ticking-clock thriller set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren), faced with the potential of Israel’s complete destruction, must navigate overwhelming odds, a skeptical cabinet, and a complex relationship with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schrei...
Directed By: Guy Nattiv
Written By: Nicholas Martin
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 27 Critic Reviews
48
30% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
56% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
15% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 27 Critic Reviews
48
30% Positive
8 Reviews
8 Reviews
56% Mixed
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
15% Negative
4 Reviews
4 Reviews
Ultimately, this drama is an essential piece of cinematic contemplation on the value of war.
Golda is a good drama about Israel. But it will take a great drama about Israel to dig into the nation’s long-simmering moral ambiguities.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 23 User Ratings
5.7
39% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
52% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
9% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 23 User Ratings
5.7
39% Positive
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
52% Mixed
12 Ratings
12 Ratings
9% Negative
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
IN A NUTSHELL:
The movie takes a look at the very complicated woman and the new state of Israel she led during the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
The film was beautifully directed by Guy Nattiv, and written by Nicholas Martin.
THINGS I LIKED:
I absolutely adore Helen Mirren. She is a true national treasure, earning her the title of Dame from the British Crown. Give her another Academy Award for Best Actress. She’s amazing in this role as the Prime Minister of Israel, often called the “Iron Lady of Israel.” Viewers might be surprised to hear Helen Mirren using an American accent for Golda, but Gold actually grew up in the USA and didn’t immigrate to Palestine until she was in her 20s.
The makeup team also deserves an Oscar. What a tremendous transformation of the lovely Helen Mirren into Golda Meir, as well as the handsome Live Schreiber into Henry Kissinger. Helen Mirren stated that she would spend 3.5 hours in the makeup chair each time she filmed, working on every detail of her face, legs, and nicotine-stained fingers.
Director Guy Nattiv had me within the first few seconds of the film. The shots are picture-perfect. There’s an incredible visual of Golda smoking in bed. The camera looks down on her and we hear the sound of bombs as the smoke from her cigarette dramatically rises above her in a cloud. So clever and powerful.
Even the sound effects were noticeably great.
The soundtrack and original score have already been nominated for awards. The song at the end of the film is called “Who by Fire” by Leonard Cohen. He was inspired by a Jewish prayer said during High Holidays, especially during Yom Kippur. The prayer is called “Unetanneh Tokef”, which means, “Let us speak of the awesomeness.” When Leonard Cohen performed a series of concerts in Israel in 1973, he heard the prayer and was inspired to write the song.
I’ve been suddenly noticing actress Camille Cottin in so many movies. She’s always perfect in every role. The entire cast did an exceptional job.
The cabinet room used in many scenes is an exact replica of the real cabinet used in the Kirya base in Tel Aviv.
The maps used in certain scenes help viewers to understand the geography.
Throughout the movie, we see Golda visiting her doctor often and struggling with her health, all while continuously puffing cigarettes. The cause of her death wasn’t disclosed immediately but was later revealed to be lymphoma. She died just 5 years after the Yom Kippur War.
We get to see old footage of Golda and her countrymen. There’s one scene that takes old footage and puts Helen Mirren’s Golda right in the middle of it. Very cool.
THINGS I DIDN’T LIKE:
Some viewers might be bored with all of the political conversations.
It would have been helpful if the maps were written in English so we could understand the borders of cities and countries.
Although the times of war were dramatic and terrifying, a bit more humor would have endeared us to more of the characters.
Some have complained that the casting was off and that a Jewish actress should have played Golda. How do YOU feel about that?
TIPS FOR PARENTS:
Kids will be completely bored. Adults who love history will be fascinated by the closer look at the Prime Minister of Israel during the Yom Kippur War in the 1970s.
Talk of death and war.
We see a naked Golda in the bathtub, although all private parts are completely covered up.
We see Jewish prisoners captured.
So many cigarettes.
Alcohol
Foreign languages are spoken without subtitles.
We see a hall filled with dead birds on the floor.
Some blood splatters are seen.
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I have to say that I loved it! Yes, you can take fault with it in a multitude of ways, but it is such an insightful tribute to PM Golda Meir by Helen Mirren, that I forgive any of that. The chain-smoking is enough to make you wan to gag - I remember the excessive smoking by people during those years. But the close-ups on Golda as she ponders how to proceed during this unprecedented attack reveal the depth of her thought process, as she weighs what she knows to be the loss of lives by those on the front lines vs losing her country. I have to confess that, even though I was aware of this war when it was going on, if you asked me what happened, I was not be able to tell you much more that that it did. This film really brings this historical event into focus and you realize how critical it was to Israel. Mirren's performance is stunning and Liev Schreiber plays Kissinger to a "T." In spite of the negative reviews, I recommend you go see it for yourself and draw your own conclusions. Your time will be well spent.
Report
Cinematically, Golda doesn’t altogether avoid a TV-movie stodginess – it looks a bit drab, with some duff effects and uneven staging. But it has a businesslike running time, and doesn’t waste it.
“Golda” feeds that time-honored tradition of watching a virtuoso screen performer vanish behind a famous name and a wall of cinematic artifice.
Golda is a tentative step towards looking at that inflammatory era with the depth it needs and that’s worthwhile: but plucking Golda out of her own life and that time out of its wider context still feels like a missed opportunity.
As a war movie, it’s bafflingly dull; as a political-intrigue drama, it’s lifeless; as a personal portrait of Meir, it’s inert and superficial.
Directed by Guy Nattiv, the sluggish film caves to the worst tendencies of forgettable biopics. Mirren is ensconced in prosthetics and a gray wig in hopes that a lookalike transformation can distract from bad writing and a total lack of insight.
La película no es mala. Es cierto que Helen Mirren en el papel de la entonces Primer Ministro de Israel es el alma pero, la trama se centra más en ella que en el conflicto bélico, que ameritaba algo más de atención.
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Paying homage to a country’s great leader is certainly a worthy and noble undertaking, but, when it comes to director Guy Nattiv’s would-be tribute to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren), the film comes up far short of what it could have been. The film focuses on Meir’s handling of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, when the nation was on the brink of collapse from “surprise” (though strongly anticipated) attacks by Egypt and Syria, largely as retribution for their territorial losses in the 1967 Six-Day War, with significant support from the Soviet Union. The picture presents a detailed by-the-numbers account of the conflict, including Meir’s involvement with her top military advisors and with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber). Granted, it’s important to understand this background to provide context for the stage on which this drama plays out. However, for a release called “Golda,” one would think that its focus would be on the title character, as a biographical sketch that just happens to be set during wartime. Instead, because of this, Meir is almost reduced to a supporting player in a much wider cast of characters playing out the specifics of the conflict (at least in the first half). There’s virtually no back story about the PM as an individual, providing little insight into who she is and how that impacts her approach to handling the combat. To its credit, the film improves in the second half, especially when it starts presenting Meir’s story from a somewhat more personal perspective. By that point, however, the filmmaker has already lost his audience for what this offering could and should have been. Viewers come away from this one knowing little more about the woman who was a national hero in a time of crisis than what they would likely find in history books and documentary films. In fairness, Mirren and Schreiber deliver fine performances, disappearing into their respective roles and making this production look better than it actually is. But that’s not saying much given what seems to be the genuinely sincere intent that was behind this release. Unlike Meir, this film simply doesn’t rise to the challenge, and that’s unfortunate considering who it is ultimately trying to honor. And, because of that, it should come as no surprise why this offering has ended up in the late summer stash of cinematic also-rans.
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Helen Mirren piles on the makeup to create Golda Meir, the Prime Minister of Israel. The film takes place during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, when she's faced with grave challenges to save the country. Mirren is in almost every scene, smoking constantly, coping with the conflict, as well as her own radiation treatments. Despite the lingering close-ups and dark personal moments, it's presented without much emotion (except one scene with a mother). Almost all the action takes place in meetings or her home, with only mini-glances at the war itself, so it's obviously about the strategies and politics from her POV. This film serves as a kind of personalized documentary outlining the highs and lows of the war and the legacy of peace she left behind. Interesting note: The credits list a Golda double, I'm assuming maybe for wide shots.
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'Golda' is a biopic with a similar approach to 'Oppenheimer,' but its narrative level is very far from that of Christopher Nolan's film.Helen Mirren does not disappoint as the controversial Golda Meir, but all the makeup and prosthetics are distracting.Outside of the protagonist, nothing is outstanding. All the secondary characters are irrelevant, including Henry Kissinger (played by Liev Schreiber); he only has one big scene in the film. The tension is barely maintained, and the framing device they use to create two timelines is wasted; it's as if the screenwriter had forgotten that it was **** perhaps most disconcerting of all is the appearance that this was made to cleanse Meir's image; the exaltation of the war spirit is also problematic. Some directorial decisions are also questionable, like the use of archive footage in the middle of the movie. The most memorable thing about this movie is the number of cigarettes they used during filming. I'm sure everyone on set was left smelling of tobacco for days.
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Production Company
Embankment Films,
Hianlo,
Maven Screen Media,
New Native Pictures,
Piccadilly Pictures,
Qwerty Films,
ShivHans Pictures
Release Date Aug 25, 2023
Duration 1 h 40 m
Rating PG-13
Tagline Israel 1973... One woman stood between Victory and Defeat
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Women Film Critics Circle Awards
• 2 Nominations
CinEuphoria Awards
• 2 Nominations
