'Golda' biopic reconfirms the fog of war

Meir's grandson endorses Mirren's casting.

“Golda” is playing at The Moviehouse in Millerton, as well as at Bantam Cinema and Arts Center, through September 7. While the film has garnered mixed critical reviews, audiences have given it higher marks. And as a woman on the verge, it should go without saying that when Dame Helen Mirren calls, I respond. You should, too.

Never mind the kerfuffle about casting a Gentile in the leading role. Golda Meir’s grandson, Gideon, shooed this away in a short commentary piece for Rolling Stone four days ago.

The real reason to see “Golda” is to revisit this whole chapter in history. Of course, I have little memory of the Yom Kippur War, given my single digit age at the time it occurred. I do, however, have a general recollection that Golda Meir herself was a force to be reckoned with—a woman in a key leadership position long before Chancellor Merkel or Secretary Albright found their own seats at the table.

The film uses the Agranat Commission as context for Meir’s recounting of her decision-making during the 1973 armed conflict between Israel and a coalition of Arab states. As Israel’ s prime minister, Meir is asked to explain why she didn’t act sooner when it became clear the country was under attack on separate fronts. She verbalizes genuine regret and keeps an exact count of Jewish lives lost in a notebook she carries with her throughout the relatively brief war.

Still, she tells her military cabinet, “Knowing when you’ve lost is easy. It’s knowing when you’ve won that’s hard.” Sometimes we all need a truth bomb just like this.

In addition, you would be forgiven for feeling short of breath while watching this movie, given Golda’s furious cigarette smoking. Of course, Meir ultimately dies of lymphoma; however, seeing her light up during her radiology appointments at Hadassah Hospital is rather jarring. This, after she walks past toe-tagged bodies stacked up on both sides of the hallway morgue.

I saw “Golda” on National Cinema Day. I crossed Nantucket Sound to see it and I am glad I did. The fact that a young independent state had a female prime minister in its third decade, while our two-and-a-half-century-old country just recently elected a female vice president is remarkable. And Golda Meir’s crisis leadership in later life should dispel ageist tropes about older adults’ abilities to serve the public.

“Golda” the movie shows a tenacious woman who cared deeply about her fellow citizens. As a founding mother of the state of Israel, she also earned the “Iron Lady” moniker that came later in her political career. And when you go to the movies to watch Helen Mirren portray her, you will think you are actually seeing Golda Meir herself.

Get the latest news and happenings delivered straight to your inbox.