Golda

A chain-smoking Helen Mirren, under layers of padding and Oscar-nominated make-up, plays Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir during the pivotal 1973 Yom Kippur War with Arab states led by Egypt and Syria. Director Guy Nattiv and writer Nicholas Martin present this leader as an iron lady for whom the loss of every man she sends into battle takes a physical and emotional toll. While the film attempts to contextualize what an existential fight these 19 days must have felt like, it never overcomes the difficulty any 2023 movie would have in not simply reinforcing the accurate picture of how much power and influence this nation wields, even just 20 or so years after its founding. A war film set largely in conference rooms, bedrooms, and kitchens, Golda is unable to make its obviously limited budget work as a benefit rather than a hindrance. Watching Mirren listen anxiously to reports of things happening off-screen, we can't help wishing we were watching her in the vastly superior fictional political thriller Eye in the Sky from 2015.