September 27 & 28

7 pm Nightly
Thursday Matinee @ 1:30 pm
Rated PG — 1 hr 41 min
Drama / War

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 Schreiber), with millions of lives in the balance. Her tough leadership and compassion would ultimately decide the fate of her nation and leave her with a controversial legacy around the world.

It’s one of those key-moment-in-world-events films that aims to deliver both a potted history lesson and a showcase for its lead actor. Think Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, or Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln. The bones of Meir’s biography have been far less picked over by the movies than Churchill or Lincoln’s so this leaves Nattiv, Mirren and Golda scope to build Meir up as a dramatic character.

Helen Mirren, under heavy prosthetics, channels the Israeli prime minister Golda Meir in this wartime biopic. Given that she’s one of the greatest actresses of her time, Mirren naturally finds ways to reveal glimmers of humanity in her portrayal of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir. There is no trace of Helen Mirren in Golda, and that’s the way it ought to be. To say that she becomes the fabled Israeli Prime Minister is a mild understatement, and it should come as no surprise that she delivers a great performance.