In this exclusive interview director GUY NATTIV discusses the making of GOLDA and the intimate exploration of the extraordinary Golda Meir during the 19-day Yom Kippur War.
GUY NATTIV is one of my favorite filmmakers. He approaches storytelling and filmmaking with a clear and concise vision that looks behind the surface and veneer of life or an issue and delves into the hearts and minds of what lies beneath. He did it with “Skin”. And he does it again here with GOLDA with an introspective intimacy that is riveting, heartbreaking, and inspiring.
SYNOPSIS: “GOLDA is a ticking-clock thriller set during the tense 19 days of the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren), faced with the potential of Israel’s complete destruction, must navigate overwhelming odds, a skeptical cabinet, and a complex relationship with US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber), with millions of lives in the balance. Her tough leadership and compassion would ultimately decide the fate of her nation and leave her with a controversial legacy around the world.”
To give some context, the Yom Kippur War was an armed conflict between Israel and a coalition of Arab States led by Egypt and Syria from October 6 to 25, 1973, during the holiest period in the Jewish religion, Yom Kippur. The majority of combat took place in the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights, both of which were occupied by Israel in 1967 following the Six-Day War. The Yom Kippur War war was part of the decades-long ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict since the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. Egypt wanted the Sinai Peninsula back.
The jury has long been divided on Golda Meir and her handling of the war as intelligence had shown that an attack was imminent, yet Meir refused to order a preemptive strike. The United States, a friend to Israel and supplier of military aid and armaments as well as “keeper of the fragile peace” in the region, had made it clear that Meir must not be responsible for initiating any war. To do so would leave Israel with no aid from the United States.
Written by Nicholas Martin and directed by GUY NATTIV, and starring Helen Mirren as Golda Meir, Liev Schreiber as Henry Kissinger, Camille Cottin as Meir’s right-hand assistant Lou Kaddar, Lior Ashkenazi as Dado, and Rami Heuberger as Moshe Dyan, GOLDA is emotionally evocative thanks to the marriage of visuals and sound (especially archival live battlefield audio of a Sagger Missile attack) which come to life within the mind’s eye of Golda Meir. This gives way to a very intimate look at this complex woman; a look at what really mattered to her – people. The little details that are so acutely captured, like her little book in which she kept track of the casualties of every soldier, citizen, even planes and tanks, speak volumes about the woman. Her level of humanity runs very deep and we see it come to life onscreen.
Key to the effectiveness of GOLDA is limiting the scope of the story to the 19-Day Yom Kippur War, focusing in on Golda Meir as a woman, a mother, a mother to her people, and her humanity, which allowed Guy to then design his visuals and synergistic soundscape with deliberate immersiveness that put us inside Golda Meir’s heart and mind and bring this story to life.
Diving into the making of GOLDA, Guy and I covered all aspects of the film, including his own personal reasons for wanting to tell this story, among them:
- designing the visual grammar with cinematographer Jasper Wolf with focus on lighting, lensing, ECUs, color
- Niv Adiri’s sound design
- the metaphoric production design by Arad Sawat
- editor Arik Lahav-Leibovich’s work with building tension and melding sound and visuals
- Dascha Dauenhauer’s score
- the impeccable and transformative work of hair/make-up/prosthetic artisan Karen Hartley Thomas
- an Academy Award-worthy performance by Helen Mirren as GOLDA
- and more!
TAKE A LISTEN. . .
by debbie elias, exclusive interview 08/22/2023
GOLDA is in theatres on August 25, 2023.
