One star. Rated PG-13, for violence, dramatic intensity and brief profanity
By Derrick Bang
I cannot recall ever having
endured such an egregious example of directorial miscalculation.
This isn’t a movie; it’s a
jaw-droppingly clumsy blend of cinema, experimental theater and performance
art, orchestrated by director José Padilha in a manner that undercuts the drama
at every turn. Such a mash-up might be right at home in an opulent fantasy akin
to La La Land or The Greatest Showman, but definitely not for a supposedly
fact-based re-telling of the 1976 hostage crisis that took place from June 27
through July 4 at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport.
 |
| Gung-ho German "revolutionaries" Wilfried Böse (Daniel Brühl) and Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike) repeatedly, endlessly discuss what they'll eventually have to do with the terrified hostages awaiting their fate at Uganda's Entebbe Airport. |
This should be a taut,
edge-of-the-seat nail-biter akin to Paul Greengrass’ United 93, but with the far more triumphant outcome that deservedly
retains its reputation as the most audacious rescue mission in modern history.
But this film’s script — Gregory Burke, hide your head in shame — is undercut
constantly by laughably melodramatic dialog, tedious talking-heads debates, and
an insipid boyfriend/girlfriend sidebar.
But that’s not the worst. The
film opens, closes and is frequently interrupted — even during the climax! — by rehearsals for Israeli choreographer
Ohad Naharin’s 1990 work, Echad Mi Yodea,
presented by the Batsheva Dance Company. It’s impossible to overstate the
degree to which this ruins the tension, robs the suspense, and pulls us
completely out of the narrative.
It’s akin to having the members
of the dance troupe Stomp! commandeer the stage in the middle of the famous
battlefield speech from Henry V (not
that Burke is fit to sharpen Shakespeare’s quills).
Events begin when an Air France
passenger plane is hijacked by four terrorists: two members of the so-called
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, allied with two sympathetic
German revolutionaries. We never get much of a bead on the Palestinians,
instead spending far too much time with the Germans: Wilfried Böse (Daniel
Brühl) and Brigitte Kuhlmann (Rosamund Pike).
At first blush, they seem
hard-hearted and dedicated to the task at hand. But once the plane is diverted
to Entebbe, and Böse and Kuhlmann are placed in charge of keeping the hostage
passengers compliant, cracks begin to emerge. They almost become cartoon
terrorists: wannabe revolutionaries joining the cause because it’s “cool.”
Brühl’s Böse is a former
bookseller: too quick to yield to compassion; too willing to identify with the
hostages; too obviously unfamiliar with the gun he wields. “I want to throw
bombs into the consciousness of the masses!” he proclaims, trying to sound
tough when challenged by one of his Palestinian colleagues. Not even Brühl can
sell such a creaky line, and his “terrorist with a heart of gold” aura is
simply offensive.
