7 Days in Entebbe

Entebbe is a subject I have been interested in from an early age, having seen all three of the previous movies made on the subject (Operation Thunderbolt, Victory at Entebbe and the best, Raid on Entebbe in 1976) but I also did decided to undertake factual research into the raid some time before this film was ever embarked upon.

Though people claim another film about the topic was unnecessary, I cannot agree with that fact. Most of the millennial generation have never heard of these events nor have they seen the previous cinematic efforts. To bring things to a modern audience, a film with contemporary stars is often required to garner interest in a tale that few under the age of 35 would have given much thought to. Considering the age of terrorism that we live in I didn't have an issue with the film giving a heavy amount of screen time to their motivations because if you don't understand why someone has a propensity towards acts of violence as a use of political means, how are we ever going to stop this circle from repeating itself? Good performances are put it from the leads especially Eddie Marsan and Daniel Bruhl but the screenplay is slow and ponderous and doesn't give equal weight to other perspectives and differing viewpoints of characters. it is worth remembering even the 1976 film had a reasonably sympathetic portrayal of Bose. The portrayal of the Ugandans here is two dimensional as always. It would have been more interesting to give some of them a voice and hear their views on the events they were caught up in and had absolutely no control over. As the actual Entebbe is currently a UN Airbase, its a shame the film wasn't shot at the real location because the depiction here (Shot in Malta) feels very stifled.

Any Entebbe film will stand or fall on the way the assault is depicted and here its shown extremely piece meal while inter cut with a scene of a dance connected to the girlfriend of one of the soldiers. As many others have stated as a metaphor th...

Lacks insight, but is well made

Early yesterday morning Roi was murdered. The quiet of the spring morning dazzled him and he did not see those waiting in ambush for him, at the edge of the furrow.

Let us not cast the blame on the murderers today. Why should we declare their burning hatred for us? For eight years they have been sitting in the refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we have been transforming the lands and the villages, where they and their fathers dwelt, into our estate.

It is not among the Arabs in Gaza, but in our own midst that we must seek Roi_'s blood. How did we shut our eyes and refuse to look squarely at our fate, and see, in all its brutality, the destiny of our generation?_

Beyond the furrow of the border, a sea of hatred and desire for revenge is swelling, awaiting the day when serenity will dull our path, for the day when we will heed the ambassadors of malevolent hypocrisy who call upon us to lay down our arms.

Roi's blood is crying out to us and only to us from his torn body. Although we have sworn a thousandfold that our blood shall not flow in vain, yesterday again we were tempted, we listened, we believed.

We will make our reckoning with ourselves today; we are a generation that settles the land and without the steel helmet and the canon's maw, we will not be able to plant a tree and build a home. Let us not be deterred from seeing the loathing that is inflaming and filling the lives of the hundreds of thousands of Arabs who live around us. Let us not avert our eyes lest our arms weaken.This is the fate of our generation.

This is our life's choice - to be prepared and armed, strong and determined, lest the sword be stricken from our fist and our lives cut down.

• Moshe Dayan; Eulogy for Roi Rotenberg (April 19, 1956)

Written by Gregory Burke ('71) and directed by José Padilha (Ônibus 174; Tropa de Elite; Tropa de Elite 2; Robocop), Entebbe [released in No...