Golda (2023)

  This may appear to be the standard political drama. All the women are secretaries. All the leaders, bosses, even the panel of judges whose investigation frames the narrative are men. 

But there is one exception — the eponymous hero, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. 

Between radiation treatments for her eventually fatal lukemia, the chain-smoking, conscience-driven woman negotiates Israel’s skin-of-the-teeth survival of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. 

While the Jewish state’s survival drama predominates there is also a compelling faith in the power a woman can wield in high office. She may recoil from the threat of turning its attacker Egypt into an army of widows and orphans. But that effective possibility wins Israel’s fragile peace with Egypt 

Golda’s effectiveness counters her disclaimer: “I’m not a soldier. I’m a politician.”  Success in the latter requires at least the possibility of the former. For all her grit and sinew, she remains a character of sentiment, emotion, empathy — keynote requirements so often forgotten in leadership.

In contrast to Golda’s wisdom, with even her suppressed gut instincts validated over time, the nation’s vulnerability is as due to the masculine entity as its military successes are. In particular, the nation’s foremost military heroes are here demystified: Moshe Dayan and Arik  Sharon. Their vanity clouds their judgment. 

Unfortunately the film also rings true to Israel’s current predicament. Golda may coerce Egyptian President Sadat into recognizing the state of Israel. But to today’s arab world, especially to the genocidal Palestinian campaign with its global support, the target is “the Zionist entity.” Not even lip-service respect is paid any “Israel,” however legitimate and important an contributor to the world it has proved to be.

Finally, there is the issue of Jewface. Why wasn’t a Jewish actor cast as Golda? Is this an affront to the Jews?

As if casting Helen Mirren could possibly be considered an insult to her subject. Simply, Mirren is magnificent. Her physical transformation — not just the face but the body, the legs, the motion — is matched by the subtlest nuances in feeling, perception, posture, expression. There has not been a better performance this year.

I gather Mirren spent three hours each day at makeup. Sarah Silverman would have taken twelve. The persecution rests.

Arguably the most touching scene is the newsreel clip of the real Golda and Sadat chatting with easy warmth over their peace deal. As she jokes, they’re a grandmother and grandfather enjoying each other. They incarnate Golda’s most famous line: “We won’t have peace till the arabs decide they love their children more than they hate us.” The line is famous enough not to be articulated here. But it drives that newsreel warmth. 

As well, the Golda-Sadat harmony offers that illusory hope that the other arab nations might someday accept peaceful existence with the Jewish state. That, after all, has since 1948 been the crucial reason why the Palestinians have not accepted the statehood they have been offered. They want to replace the Jews not join them. And the world won’t rein them in. Today as in 1973, as in 1948, Israel cannot count on anyone but herself for defence.