Ashdoc's movie review---7 days in Entebbe

ashdoc

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June 1976 . An Air France airliner carrying many Israelis is hijacked by two Palestinian and two German terrorists and taken first to Benghazi in Libya for refuelling and then to Entebbe in Uganda . They demand the release of over 50 Palestinian terrorists , most of whom are prisoners of Israel . The terrorists are welcomed by the cannibal dictator of Uganda , Idi Amin .

Once the hijacking is complete and the passengers brought to the airport terminal , the two German terrorists are sidelined to mere guard duties over the hijacked passengers and the negotiations are taken over by the Palestinians who have been joined by more of their comrades . That brings us to the question as to what were the two Germans doing in the whole hijacking in the first place . In fact , the movie concentrates a lot on the motives and doings of the two German terrorists than on the Palestinian terrorists .

One of the Germans is a woman , Brigitte Kuhlmann played by Rosamund Pike . The other is Wilfried Böse played by Daniel Bruhl . They are leftist revolutionaries who believe that the Israeli government is acting in a fascist manner towards the Palestinians . But what will the world think of Germans kidnapping Israelis ?---brings memories of the holocaust back . Soon they two realise that there is no going back home , a fact borne out in a phone conversation that Brigitte makes to herself as the phone is actually not working .

In Israel , Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin ( Lior Ashkenazi ) is in favour of negotiations with the terrorists and spouts dialogues saying that whole of Israel will become a prison if it does not negotiate with the terrorists . These are given real prominence in the movie . Defence minister Shimon Peres ( Eddie Marsan ) wants to do a military operation , and a military operation does happen .

But instead of showing a successful military operation in all it's glory , the operation is juxtaposed with a dance that the girlfriend of one of the soldiers participating in the operation is doing . The military operation is shown only haphazardly , and is overshadowed by the increasing tempo of the music as the dance happens . The dance shows dancers in a semi circle and they begin to throw off their outer clothes as the tempo of the drum beats increases . It symbolises the increasing violence around Israel that the moviemaker claims Israel will never get itself rid off....unless as the Prime minster says yet again , Israel negotiates with it's enemies . And before the closing credits roll , we are once more shown the message that as of march 2018 no negotiations are occurring between Israel and it's opponents .

One definitely sees the hand of the leftist lobby behind this movie . That Israel should negotiate with it's opponents has been a long standing demand of the left isn't it ? And that was the reason the movie was made ; after all many movies have been made on this spectacular rescue operation and what was the need to make another movie on this anyway , except to push the leftist agenda ? Another scene where a comrade of the Israeli soldier tells him to call it quits with his girlfriend if he is going to be on his duties because the war against Israel's opponents is going to be never ending also shows the left's intention to dampen Israeli morale and bring it to the negotiating table .

Acting is good by everyone especially Rosamund Pike , whose character takes centre stage in the movie---which is strange , considering the fact that the real power was in the hands of the Palestinian terrorists after the plane landed . Idi Amin entertains by giving himself a host of grandiose titles when he introduces himself to the hijacked passengers . When the military operation takes place , the non Israeli passengers have been released by the hijackers . Earlier , the scenes of separating the Israelis from the non Israelis by making the Israelis go through a big hole broken in the wall to another room looked really sinister . Colours look old fashioned in the movie , maybe because it is set in an older era . Photography is good . Music especially of the dance performance is the hallmark of the movie . The movie has some grip for some time but loses it's grip as the climax disappoints with the rescue operation improperly shown .

Verdict---Okay .

Two stars out of five .
 

ashdoc

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