Helen Mirren as Golda Meir, Israel’s “Iron Lady”

Goldathe film presented at the Berlin Film Festival on Monday February 20, and in which Helen Mirren plays the main character, is centered on the Yom Kippur War in October 1973 and those days which continue to haunt the collective memory in Israel at the end of the mandate of Première Minister of Golda Meir.

Taken by surprise in the midst of Yom Kippur, the most important of the Jewish calendar, the Jewish state wavers under the crossfire of Egypt and Syria. The Israeli army manages to regain the upper hand only after serious setbacks and at the cost of more than 2,500 deaths. “This is the Vietnam of Israel“, declared the director Guy Nattiv in a press conference, expecting that the film could reopen debates in his country.

A rehabilitation company

In the movie, “Golda is not shown as a completely smooth character, she made mistakes, mistakes but she took responsibility, which political leaders do not do today“, he added. The one who was one of the founders of the nation, signatory of the declaration of independence, will resign in 1974 and will die four years later. “She was unfairly denigrated in Israel“and did”never put the blame on anyone“for the mistakes that may have been made, added Helen Mirren to the press. She was a leader”totally dedicated without being power drunk or dictatorial“.

In the film, which chooses to focus on the point of view of the Israeli civil and military authorities, the fighting is only shown from the sky. Born himself in 1973, the Israeli director lays claim to the rehabilitation of a political figure who is sometimes contested, strong but inflexible, and who displayed radical positions on the Palestinian question.

The film does not, however, hide the initial paralysis of Israeli power, nor the difficulties in convincing Richard Nixon’s America, in the midst of the Cold War, to help its ally. On screen, Helen Mirren, 77, blends into the role, playing a twilight Labor leader, alone in the face of the toughest decisions, smoking cigarette after cigarette.

While managing the most serious crisis that her country has known, she secretly treats the cancer that is eating away at her, of which the armada of soldiers and ministers, all men, placed under her authority must know nothing. In the film, his only confidante is his close assistant, played by Camille Cottin, made famous by the series Ten percent and who is pursuing an international career that has already led her to appear alongside Matt Damon (Stillwater) and at Ridley Scott (House of Gucci).

A controversy in the UK

Shot in English, with a British lead actress, the film has already been the subject of controversy in the UK even before being shown, with some questioning the choice of an actress who is not Jewish. to play Golda Meir.

“I was surprised to see this reaction“, replied the director Guy Nattiv in a press conference, considering that it was as absurd to decide that only Jewish actors can play the roles of Jewish characters as to prohibit Jews from playing the roles of non-Jews.”This would limit the possibilities [des interprètes] in such proportions“, he pointed out. “Israeli or Jewish actors have no limitations to perform worldwide“.”And if tomorrow we make a film about Jesus Christ, who will play it? A Jew or a non-Jew?“, quipped Lior Ashkenazy, General David Elazar in the film. “Anyway, not me!“, laughed Helen Mirren.

Golda Meir reportedly ‘horrified’ by situation in Israel

Golda Meir, who died 45 years ago, would be “completely horrified“by the policy currently being conducted in the Jewish state, said Helen Mirren in an interview with AFP. The Labor leader shared “idealism“of the founders of the Jewish state, far from the ongoing reform of the judicial system, which would mark”the arrival of the dictatorship“, according to the actress. The Israeli Parliament approved Tuesday in first reading two provisions of this controversial reform. The project mobilizes a large part of public opinion against him since his announcement, at the beginning of January, by the government formed by the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (right) with far-right parties and ultra-Orthodox Jewish formations.

“I think that would be a complete reversal and denial of his values“, said the actress about this reform, which the UN called on Tuesday to suspend, worried about its consequences in terms of human rights and the independence of justice. “This is the coming of the dictatorship and the dictatorship has always been the enemy of the people all over the world, and this is what (Golda Meir) would think“, she added. “I believe we are about to lose democracy, and I think if Golda were alive and saw this, she would want to go back to her grave.“, estimated for his part with AFP the Israeli director of the film Guy Nattiv. “She was very honest. She also took responsibility for everything, and she totally believed in the justice system. So it’s totally the opposite of what we see today, and for me it’s appalling“.