Golda

Not only is Israeli film director Guy Nattiv a regular at the Berlinale, his work has traversed almost all of the festival’s different sections: his graduation short won a Crystal Bear, in 2011 he premiered a feature version of the story in Generation, then eight years later his first American production, Skin, was presented in Panorama. Not quite a Competition title but edging closer, his current picture, Golda, is part of the Special Galas.

It is September 1973 and Israel’s prime minister, Golda Meir, has just returned from negotiations in Austria as she receives intel of a pending war with Egypt. Afraid of making a hasty judgement, she decides to wait for further proof instead of giving her compatriots notice to evacuate. The days that follow are the most challenging of not only her career, but of her life, as (unbeknownst to the public at the time) she is also battling cancer.

Using recently declassified documents as its source, Golda is not a biopic. Instead, the piece focuses on the not-quite three weeks of the Yom Kippur War and how Israel’s leader led the country to peace. 

What is interesting about this film is that we never actually get a grasp of how Nattiv feels about Meir. She is not portrayed as a particularly sympathetic figure, yet one is hard-pressed to find fault with her actions in her particular predicament. What remains most resounding after the 100 minutes we spend with her is that she was one of the admittedly few political leaders ready to take responsibility. 

Heavy make–up and prosthetics as well as the obligatory cigarette in her hand help Dame Helen Mirren assimilate the iconic political figure, even if the intonation and pitch leave something to be desired. In turn, Liev Schreiber makes a more convincing voice actor in what is essentially a cameo appearance as Henry Kissinger; but his scene discussing Russian food before eating borscht is a touch too awkward to serve as the intended comic relief crammed amid the feature’s gruelling images of bodies piling up the morgue and Meir’s cancer treatment.

Selina Sondermann

Golda is released in select cinemas on 25^th August 2023.

Read more reviews from our Berlin Film Festival 2023 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Berlin Film Festival website here.

Watch a clip from Golda here: