Susan Granger’s review of “Golda’s Balcony”
Not only is this poignant portrait of Israel’s former Prime Minister Golda Meir riveting and powerful, it also reminds and enlightens us about the origins of the current Middle East conflict.
A tenacious and resilient woman, Golda Mabovitch was born in Kiev, Russia; raised in Milwaukee; emigrated to Palestine with her husband, Morris Myerson; and spent many years in a kibbutz, where – while making matzoh balls in the kitchen – she plotted and planned the creation of Israel.
Tony Award-winning playwright William Gibson’s incisive story begins as the ailing Meir recalls facing her most terrifying moral dilemma at the height of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Israel is in crisis and defeat would mean the obliteration of the Jewish State. While she had an inkling that trouble was brewing, Moshe Dayan, her defense minister opposed launching a pre-emptive strike, fearing worldwide condemnation. That leaves Meir begging U.S. President Richard Nixon – through intermediaries – for the phantom fighters that he’d promised.
The great revelation – which I never knew – is that strong-willed Meir had secretly supervised the creation of an immense underground nuclear weapons arsenal called Dimona, which was labeled as a desalinazation plant. Faced with possible extinction, Meir held up the nuclear trump card to Nixon, which hastened the delivery of the fighter jets.
Valerie Harper’s uncanny portrayal is often amusing and remarkably authentic; in addition, she impersonates cohorts like David Ben-Gurion and Henry Kissinger. It’s a versatile, tour-de-force performance. Director Jeremy Kagan’s visual montages of photographs and newsreel footage add to the veracity as he amplifies what is, essentially, a one-woman show. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Golda’s Balcony” is a timely, amazing 8, illustrating the ironic absurdity of going to war to achieve peace through the redemption of the human race.
