7 Days In Entebbe (2018)
This is the third film I have seen on the Israeli raid on Entebbe in 1976 and much the worst.
The opening shot defined the film: it is of a modern dance troupe sitting in a circle singing an Israeli song when one falls from her chair.
The film frequently returns to this dance troupe particularly when the raid is being executed. At best this irritates at worst it trivialises.
I doubted if I would enjoy this film as much as Raid on Entebbe with Peter Finch, Charles Bronson, Jack Warden and Martin Balsam but was nonetheless interested how a modern director would treat it.
The 1976 two films glorified the Israelis for their chutzpah but sympathy has shifted from Israel to the Palestinians since then.
This film tried to depict the travails of a people supposedly deprived of their land by Israel but the Palestinian terrorist group supported, by the remnants of the Baader Meinhof gang, elicited little sympathy.
In particular not only did they treat the passengers harshly but the division of them into Jews and Gentiles had uncomfortable echoes of the Nazis. It was also a bad tactical manoeuvre as much intelligence was gleaned from the passengers mainly French who were initially released.
The planning of the raid in 4 days, the divisions in Prime Minister’s Yitzhan Rabin’s cabinet, the taking of the terminal were all much better depicted in Raid on Entebbe.
Initially this film focused more on the terrorists themselves, particularly the German Brigitte (Rosamund Pike).
Soon security was tightened globally but in the 1970s the Palestinian terrorists extracted blood money from airlines for immunity from air piracy.
The raid where 144 hostages were saved turned a page: there was no negotiation only liquidation.
Oddly as he became the main suitor for peace and negotiations with the Palestinian authorities Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan) was depicted as a rather slimy politician more anxious to avoid any blame sticking to him as Minister of Defence than the raid’s success
In short I wonder why the movie was ever made as it was so unlikely to be a commercial or critical success.
