A Women Called Golda

The stirring chronicle of Golda Meir's life, with Ingrid Bergman giving her final performance and posthumously winning an Emmy Award as Outstanding Actress. The film, taking Golda through her 1977 meeting with Anwar Sadat, earned an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Drama Special and nominations to Judy Davis, the Australian actress who played the young Golda, and Leonard Nimoy, who played Golda's husband, Morris Meyerson. In addition, Emmy Award nominations went to Michel Legrand for his music and to the film's editor and sound mixer. Robert Loggia took the role of Anwar Sadat after Jose Ferrer gave it up for personal reasons. The two-part, four-hour "A Woman Called Golda" was filmed entirely in Israel.

Golda Meir, a Russian-born Jew raised in Wisconsin who served as prime minister of Israel from 1969-74 -- one of the most turbulent periods in the country's history. Often called the Iron Lady of Israel, the fiercely determined Meir led the nation through the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes and coaches at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany.

We saw this film for the first time this week. We highly recommend it! Surprisingly it was made for TV back in the 80's. We watched it in two sittings. It is appropriate for the whole family (little ones would probably find it boring.)

We learned a lot about Golda Meir and the founding of Eretz Israel. It is not a documentary, there was artistic license taken. The film starts with Golda in her later years, addressing a classroom of Students in the American school she attended as a child. She responded to questions from the children and "flashed back" to her life.

A great "homeschool" movie if you are studying the history of Eretz Israel. I think we are going to add it to our family library.

You can find it for rent on Netflix or for sale at Amazon.com.