Entebbe Movie Review (2018)
Entebbe: The movie is grounded before its scheduled take off
Releasing on 16th March 2018
Cast: Rosamund Pike, Daniel Bruhl, Eddie Marsan
The ghost of the 1976 Operation Entebbe or Operation Thunderbolt is out again. This time, it is Jose Padilha translating the successful counter-terrorist operation into an interesting movie but the critics have other views about the movie.
Could Jose Padilha live up to the expectations of the viewers?
He shot to fame from the Elite Squad series and he also made RoboCop, a successful cyberpunk superhero action film. But it seems that he failed to deliver his best with Entebbe. It was a military operation carried out by Israeli force.
“Air France Flight 139 with 248 passengers onboard was hijacked by two German revolutionaries and two Palestine terrorists. The flight was en route from Tel Aviv, Israel to Paris, France. But it was grounded at gunpoint in the Entebbe airport, Uganda. The terrorists demanded $5 million and release of 53 Palestinian and Pro-Palestine militants. The Israel army was ordered to rescue the plane when all the diplomatic channels failed”
It is the most daring and audacious rescue mission carried out by the military on a foreign soil till today. But Jose Padilha dealt with the subject very lightly. It isn’t that the facts are distorted but that they are presented in a very simple manner. There was tension in the government circles as all the hostages were at gunpoint but this tension is missing in the movie.
Weak points of Entebbe
1. Director should have experienced the hostage situation in the plane and at the airport
2. The view provided is of captors and rescuers. The hostages seem to be missing from the plot or they are used merely to fabricate the situation
3. The focus is on Israeli parliament and authorities but the government characters are made to look more like rubber stamps than intelligent persons with special effects
4. Character of Idi Amin looks more comic than ruthless
5. One of the Israeli soldiers is seen in love of a dancing girl but it has nothing to do with the rescue operation
6. It is a movie made for entertainment but Jose Padilha looks pro-Israeli in treating the subject
7. It is a very slow-motion drama of a high-octane military rescue operation
Entebbe First Look & Poster
The poster looks more bookish than of a movie. It is divided into three parts. The topmost part has the gun totting German revolutionaries; the middle part has details of the movie including its name and the last part has the soldiers running towards the hijacked plane. A dark backdrop is used to show commotion.
Why watch the movie?
It isn’t a documentary but a full movie hence interesting. The story is based on a real incident and the facts are served according to the real incident. The young generation that has read about the Operation Entebbe only in books will find the movie entertaining. Jose Padilha’s direction has its magic in the movie. It is the third movie on Operation Entebbe and it is made after declassification of secret documents on the military operation.
Movie Trailer
Trivia:
- A hijacked plane landed close to the International airport Malta, where the movie was shot
- The movie was based on a book that contains information not available to others
- A character Yonatan (Yoni) Netanyahu is the older brother of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin NetanyahuThe movie comes after declassification of Operation Entebbe documents
