Golda

image for Golda

Short takes

Not suitable under 12; parental guidance to 13 (violence, themes)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Golda
  • a review of Golda completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 13 May 2024.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 12 Not suitable due to violence and themes.
Children aged 12–13 Parental guidance recommended due to violence and themes.
Children aged 14 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Golda
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild themes
Length: 100 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Amid widespread dissent with Israel’s lack of preparedness when they were simultaneously attacked by both the Egyptians and Arabs, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (Helen Mirren) shares her experience of what happened during the 19 day Yom Kippur War that nearly destroyed her nation. Audiences are never taken to the battlefront but are instead given a behind the scenes glimpse of the command centres and allowed to listen to the troops as they are repeatedly overcome and killed. Multiple battles take place, strategic meetings are held, negotiations are made and other nations intervene as the consequences of this war are soon to be felt abroad. Despite unprecedented losses, Israel remains undefeated but must make concessions for the sake of peace and in order to survive long term in such a hostile region. The weight of unimaginable decisions lies heavily on Golda’s shoulders as she attempts to govern a nation, rally troops and fight an aggressive form of cancer. Audiences are given a rare glimpse into the pressures this woman faced, the human behind the political figure and the reasons for the momentous choices she made.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

War; Illness; Cancer; Veiled references to the Holocaust; Dirty politics and the hatred of multiple nations towards another.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • There are images of bombings as Israel is invaded on two fronts. There is also occasionally some historical footage of the war shown.
  • Golda walks through an angry mob who are yelling and screaming at her.
  • One character, when speaking of the enemy, promises others that: “We will crush their bones. We will tear them limb from limb”.
  • Egypt and Syria attack Israel. Explosions occur as tanks are hit. It appears as though thousands of tanks are destroyed. There are sounds of soldiers begging for help and reinforcements before they are killed.
  • A number of reservists are trapped (among them, the son of someone who works with Golda) and when Golda orders their rescue it becomes evident that it was a trap as a thousand more men are killed.
  • Missiles are fired and the Israeli soldiers are told, despite being horribly outnumbered, that no one is to retreat. From the command centre, Golda and her advisors listen to the soldiers beg for their lives before hearing the gun shots and explosions that claim their lives.
  • Golda’s secret cancer treatments take place in a morgue and each time she visits there are more and more bodies lining both walls of the passageway she walks through.
  • Tanks fire on each other and explode.
  • Eleven pilots die.
  • Golda wants the enemies to believe that she is capable of doing anything, including purposefully allowing 30,000 men to die. She says that if the enemy does not fear us, they will attack again and again.
  • In a tense scene, Golda slices through her own palms with her fingernails while blood drips down her hand.
  • Golda answers a phone call to learn that 300 more men have died (she keeps a tally of the dead in a little book she carries with her). She is overcome with the sound of gunfire and screaming. As the room begins to spin around her, she can hear babies crying. She lays down on the floor, covering her ears with her hands in an effort to block off the horrific sounds.
  • Golda is informed that 7,000 soldiers have died, that 2,000 are wounded and that 300 are still missing.
  • It is mentioned that some of the bodies are being returned to Israel “in pieces”.
  • One character reminds another that: “Jesus was beaten in the streets for fun”.
  • Golda stays out at an airfield late one night to watch the bodies of soldiers being unloaded from a plane in wooden boxes.
  • At the end of the film, numerous, small, dead birds are shown lying on the floor of a corridor.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

  • None noted.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Numerous characters smoke throughout the film.
  • Golda was an obsessive chain smoker, and this was clearly displayed. She smoked everywhere she went – in meetings, in bed, in cars, at home, on rooftops and even in the hospital during her radiation treatments.
  • A character mentions to Golda that when President Nixon drinks he talks of you.
  • Beers are served in cups.
  • Golda is shown at the end of her life, lying in a hospital bed and alternating between breathing with her oxygen mask and puffing on her cigarette.

Coarse language

  • None noted.

In a nutshell

Golda is a biographical account of the role Israel’s Prime Minister played during the Yom Kipper War. The film includes some subtitles and some historical footage, both from the war and from events after as peace treaties were negotiated, specifically with Egypt. This is not a film for children but rather one that is more suitable for teen and older audiences.

The main messages from this movie are to persevere through all things; to understand the cost of death and the value of a human life; to fight for what you believe to be true; and to never, ever give up.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Courage
  • Bravery
  • Compassion
  • Tolerance
  • Understanding.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • Constant smoking.
  • Making huge decisions on your own and accepting the consequences of the outcomes.
  • Taking what doesn’t belong to you.
  • Waging war.