Critics welcomed Golda's world premiere in Berlin, though more than one had trouble finding her leading lady, Helen Mirren, on screen. It's just that, as Leslie Felperin from the Hollywood Reporter points out, the makeup used by the Oscar winner for The Queen is so excessive that any other artist could have been in her place and no one would have noticed.
However, he claims that Mirren's eyes are enough to capture a memorable performance, to which he adds a posture identical to that of the legendary Israeli prime minister, who in the original version speaks with an American accent, a detail that will only surprise anyone. who do not know that although Meir was born in the Ukraine, she grew up in Milwaukee, two hours from Chicago, and only arrived in the Middle East when she was 23 years old, shortly after marrying the father of her two children.
The film, which has been directed by the Israeli Guy Nattiv, is not exactly a biography of Meir but a portrait from the perspective of the leader of the two weeks in which the Yom Kippur war took place in 1973, when Syria and Egypt tried to to recover the territories occupied by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967. Meir locked herself in with her country's ministers and military chiefs, being the only woman who participated in decision-making.
During the press conference in Berlin, Mirren explained her reasons for accepting the role: “She was an incredible person to experience from the inside, which is what actors do. When I said yes, she had a deep admiration for him. She was extraordinarily brave and totally committed to Israel,” she explained, later adding: “Interestingly, it was a bit like playing Elizabeth II, not because Golda was royalty but because of the commitment she had towards the country of she. She was a leader without becoming a power-hungry dictator. She was very motherly. And if I have something in common with her, it's my fascination with kitchen appliances. I am always buying the most advanced mixer that just came out. Golda had a wonderful domestic side. She always said that her greatest happiness was to be on the kibbutz, taking care of the chickens. But her life took him in another direction.
To prepare for the role, Mirren, who is now 77 years old, would arrive before anyone else to spend four hours in the make-up room, and when everyone else left, she would stay there for a long time to recover her identity: “At the end of each One day I was very surprised when I looked in the mirror and it was me again, because I was very used to being this other person”, Mirren recalled about the filming that lasted 35 days on a London set.
Logically, there was no shortage of journalists who raised the controversy generated when the producers hired Mirren, who is not Jewish, to which the director responded emphatically: “When I met Helen at home, I felt like I was with an aunt. It was like being with a Jewish person. We talked about Golda for hours and he understood every detail of her personality. She is also one of the best actresses in the world. That's why I was surprised by the reaction of the people, "he said, later revealing:" Helen told me something very intelligent. ‘If only Jewish actors can play Jewish characters, what happens when Jewish actors play non-Jewish characters? Is it something that cannot be done anymore?’. Actors don't have to have limitations, and that's why there are so many Israeli actors working on international series,” he asserted, as Mirren stood by him in silence.
Golda will be released in the United States on August 25 and will hit Spanish theaters two weeks later.
