At this point the 1976 Entebbe raid—in which Israeli commandos rescued more than a hundred airline passengers from German and Palestinian hijackers—has been filmed so many times that it probably qualifies as an Israeli foundational myth, striking a note of heroic resolve in a nation perpetually braced for terror. This fourth screen version, a U.S.-UK coproduction, gestures rhetorically at restarting the Middle East peace process, though the Palestinian characters barely register; British screenwriter Gregory Burke (’71) is more interested in the left-wing Germans (Daniel Brühl, Rosamund Pike), who are touchy about the historical implications of killing Jewish passengers, and the two Israeli statesmen back in Tel Aviv, the flight’s point of origin, who clash over how to handle the crisis, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (Lior Ashkenazi) and defense minister Shimon Peres (Eddie Marsan). Portuguese action director José Padilha (Elite Squad) generates a hurtling momentum, especially as the raid takes shape, but his dialogue scenes are indifferently staged.
7 Days in Entebbe
PG-13 • 1 hour 46 min • 2018
