7 Days in Entebbe [Blu-ray]

First, those who have said that this glorifies terrorism couldn't be more in error. The comments by the Flight Engineer, a plumber is worth five freedom fighters, a engineer is worth 50 freedom fighters.. is the direct confrontation with the romantic notion of being a revolutionary held by the Baader-Meinhopf terrorists.There are some inaccuracies, such as the date of Israel's recognition-it was 1949 not 1947-these historical facts should have been corrected.The terrorists come across as misguided and idealistic, and the Palestinian terrorists , cynical. The focus was on the Baader-Meinhopf terrorists, and the internal contradictions that they were continually fighting which led to their deaths.For those who have forgotten, one of the terrorists in Raid on Entebbe was shown to be in a perfect position to throw a grenade, but upon looking at one of the hostages whom he had gotten to know-ultimately couldn't do it, but went out in a blaze of fire.This movie as stated, looks at the story from a very different perspective. I found no glorification of terrorism at all. Just the sad, incredible idealism, and ultimately the foolishness of terrorist attacks on innocents.4 stars solid, would have been higher but for the introduction of errors in known historical facts.

Interesting retelling of true story

7 Days In Entebbe is about the 1976 hijacking of an Air France plane by German terrorists and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Israeli rescue attempt.The first part of the film is about the German revolutionaries led by Daniel Bruhl and Rosamund Pike. It goes through their motivations like wanting to reassure themselves that they were committed militants, wanting to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians, etc. Some have said it glorifies their side but in fact it shows their uncertainties and how empty their position was. As Pike says she felt like she had to take action simply to show that she was a revolutionary after she’d screwed up and her movement was dead. That’s not some big ideological justification for their actions but how bankrupt they were. Bruhl on the other hand has a conversation with the planes’ flight engineer about how he solves problems and revolutionaries do not.The movie highlights the splits within the two sides. The Germans for example disagree with how the Palestinians treat the hostages in Uganda. In Israel Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin/Lior Ashkenazi and Defense Minister Shimon Peres/Eddie Marsan are political rivals and try to undermine each other.It also pushes the idea that the Palestinians and Israelis should be negotiating for peace, the position of Rabin, which is not happening today.I thought the film had good tension and then the big Israeli raid at the end. The only problem was splicing in a dance performance in Israel which I thought was really out of place.

Some say thus movie lacks action. Sorry, but hijackings and hostage takings are marked often by a terrifyingly stillness, characterised by waiting and fear. Some object to the introduction of a modern dance piece into the film. I can think of few ways better to speak to the ambiguity and fear than through movement, which is tied to the life of one of the major characters of the film, the dancer spouse to an Israeli special forces soldier. Other's cite inaccuracies in details of the film (one reviewer even complains of the initial titles!). Having read several books on the history of Entebbe and much more on the history of terrorism, I can only say that this film is as accurate as any of the others, and more so than the 1977 film. These complaints are mostly political, as are the complaints that the "terrorists are humanised."The films unwelcome reality is that terrorists are human. Not pleasant or at all likeable humans, but like all of us they are motivated by human emotions and thought, regardless of how fractured. The film did not make them seem "sympathetic," so much as foolish or vengeance seeking.I suppose there are some who would make any opponent of the established order a caricature of evil. This film not so much, but neither did it glamorise what they had done. No one witnessing a bound captive being tortured is likely to find his interrogators sympathetic, even less so a speedball popping woman given to losing her temper whilst holding a machine pistol.The film, far more than others concerned with the Entebbe incident, showed the deadly political calculus of the raid itself. More than 50 Ugandan soldiers were killed in the raid. One Israeli soldier died, and so did three of the captives. So too, but unmentioned in the film, did Bruce McKenzie, the Minister of the Interior of Kenya whose efforts opened a Kenyan airport to Israeli planes for refuelling and who suffered assassination at the orders of Idi Amin, as did hundreds of Kenyans living in Uganda. If there is one unmistakable "message" in the film is a plea for negotiations. The raid on Entebbe could never have happened without negotiations. They gave the time needed to organise the rescue. Negotiations opened Kenya's airspace and airports. Indeed, within a divided Israeli government negotiations between contesting parties and personalities made the rescue possible. The film ends with the sobering note that in spite of the endless friction, fear and suffering, there are no negotiations today between Palestinians and Israelis.

Interesting, well shot, good cast, but weak writing.This actually happened! An INCREDIBLE raid, most of it glossed over in slow mo and back story drama.Kenya's involvement, and the incredible logistics.... skipped.They missed that the Mercedes was actually the wrong color, and that's what tipped off the Ugandans. Instead the commandos seem to open fire randomly....And the older jewish lady that was taken to the hospital in Uganda and later murdered in retaliation after the raid, was completely omitted from the plot.Overall it's like they started to make a great movie and just.... lost interest.1977's The Raid on Entebbe is WAY better, and came out only a year or so after the events. PLUS it's FREE right meow.