7 Days in Entebbe (2018) * *

Directed by:  Jose Padilha

Starring:  Daniel Bruhl, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Marsan, Lior Ashkenazi, Denis Menochet, Angel Bonnani, Juan Pablo Roba, Nonso Anozie

The ingredients are all here for a tense, suspenseful thriller based on the true story of the 1976 Air France plane hijacking by terrorists.   However, a great deal of the movie involves the people on both sides standing around waiting and thinking about what to do next.     It stands still when it should be in motion, pushing ever forward to its payoff.    Instead, we witness people pondering their next move and wrestling with their consciences.    It is not exactly a worthwhile cinematic experience.

7 Days in Entebbe begins with a brief history of violent relations between Israel and neighboring Palestine explained in the opening titles over an Israeli dance company's performance of Naharin's "Echad Mi Yodea".   When Israel was formed following World War II, Palestinian land was taken to create the new Hebrew state in the Middle East, inflaming hatred, violence, and tension in the region ever since.    The hijacking takes place four years after the slaughter of eleven Israeli athletes by a Palestinian terrorist organization, and the Israeli government led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Ashkenazi) stands by Israel's policy not to negotiate with terrorists.    The terrorists are a mix of German and Palestinian "freedom fighters" led by Germans Wilfried Bose (Bruhl) and Brigitte Kuhlmann (Pike).   Their goal is to hold the 250 passengers (83 of them Israeli nationals) ransom in exchange for the release of political prisoners in Israel.     This, they believe, will strike a blow against Israel.

It is not lost on Kuhlmann and Bose that they are Germans committing horrific acts against Jews, but they manage to separate their cause from that of Nazism...at least in their minds.  When Israel learns of the hijacking, Rabin battles with his conscience, his cabinet led by defense minister Shimon Peres (Marsan), and the families of the hostages who only want their loved ones home safe...Israeli policy be damned.     The waters are further muddied by the terrorists keeping the hostages in an abandoned airport terminal in Entebbe, Uganda, with Idi Amin (Anozie) promising to take care of the hostages while in fact harboring terrorists; a move which would turn international opinion against him.   

Peres and Mossad propose a midnight raid to save the hostages.    Rabin is not so sure.   He leans towards negotiations and then away from them.    "If I were still a general, I would not approve this raid.   It is too risky," says Rabin, but with cabinet pressure mounting to take action, Rabin relents and Operation Thunderbolt is under way.    By the time the military action is in full swing, 7 Days in Entebbe has not gathered any momentum or tension.    Except for the plane's engineer (Menochet-- in the film's best performance), we learn little or nothing about the hostages and only slightly more about the terrorists themselves.    There are dialogue scenes about their doubts about their mission and about the Israeli intentions, but nothing which would cause us to care all that much.   Even Amin's scenes are muted.    He is the wild card, balancing international perception while trying to stay in favor with his allies, but he is mostly left on the sidelines.

7 Days in Entebbe manages to document this event without engaging us in it.    It feels more like a footnote in the ongoing battle between Israel, Palestine, and the rest of the Middle East.    We get the feeling this was just one of many fights to come between these factions.     The hijacking didn't seem to represent a turning point of any kind.    The PLO led by Yassir Arafat had yet to become a major player and 7 Days in Entebbe feels like just what it is....the end of the beginning.