Entebbe (or 7 Days in Entebbe) is the real life story of the 1976 hijacking of an Air France flight by Pro-Palestinian terrorists. The plane, with 248 passengers on board, was flown to Entebbe, Uganda, where, with the co-operation of the Ugandan leader Idi Amin, the terrorists held them hostage for seven days until a raid launched by the Israeli Government. The film is directed by Jose Padhila and stars Daniel Bruhl and Rosamund Pike as Wilfried Bose and Brigitte Kuhlmann, German Pro-Palestinians, who co-ordinate the hijacking.
Three other films exist which document this moment in history, two American films and an Israeli film, all released in the 1970s. As a result, this film attempts to approach the topic differently and the primary way this occurs is through the inclusion of a contemporary dance element. The dance occurs throughout and while being an attempt at trying to do something different, it doesn’t work. It gets in the way of the story and feels unnecessary, being particularly irritating during the climactic raid sequence, which should be really intense, but instead all you can think is: STOP DANCING!!!
The film has some good moments and decent performances by the two main characters and Eddie Marsan in support. There are however issues with dialogue and pacing, with one scene in particular in which Rosamund Pike’s character makes a phone call feeling completely superfluous and poorly written. It is also confusing as to why the characters sometimes speak to each other in German and sometimes in English for no real reason. Surely as both are German native speakers they would speak to each other in German?
It is not a hopeless film and the best moments in it are where it just plays it straight as an interesting, tense moment in history, with real human drama. If you cut out the contemporary dance element and removed some of the repetitive scenes between Bruhl and Pike’s characters, the film would feel more interesting and engaging. As it is, it has issues, but is not terrible and would be of interest certainly if you have a specific interest in Arab-Israeli conflict or this particular incident. 2.5 Stars.
Movie Night 