The talent of Mirren as Golda Meir is overwhelmed by the mediocrity of a dull and desiccated film.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 18, 2024

Golda, with Helen Mirren in the lead role, is a sympathetic portrait of a leader under extreme pressure, who rises to the occasion in defiance of her own physical frailty and the demands of her American allies, but it’s not entirely flattering.

| May 24, 2024

There's too much reliance on news footage of the real Meir. Characters appear with who-they-are explanatory captions that a good script would not need. It's worth watching because of its relevance, and for Mirren's performance

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 10, 2024

While screenwriter Nicholas Martin’s dialogue occasionally veers into the territory known as overly-portentous, director Guy Nattiv’s use of monochrome both enhances and benefits greatly from the script’s tight focus.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | May 9, 2024

Mirren is outstanding as the cigarette-loving chief whose strategic acumen was matched by her conscience, which bore the burden of casualties heavily.

| Original Score: 3/5 | May 3, 2024

The film taken as a whole is both intense and tense. Mirren’s performance is worth the price of the ticket on its own.

| Original Score: 15.5/20 | Apr 21, 2024

This is not a flattering portrayal of Golda, but an indecisive one.

| Original Score: B | Mar 18, 2024

Unfortunately, after half an hour it abandons all its dramatic force and reduces the presence of the Iron Lady to that of an artificial caricature that consumes itself like the ashes of a cigarette. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/10 | Feb 23, 2024

There are films that only make sense, that justify one viewing – in this case, just one – thanks to their leading actress. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 3/5 | Dec 18, 2023

Golda is not a good film, but an often incomprehensible and undramatic gibberish of war strategy and army movement, articulated with somewhat stale formal grandiloquence... [Full review in Spanish]

| Dec 18, 2023

Guy Nattiv's new film starring Helen Mirren offers an account of the Yom Kippur War through the perspective of Golda Meir. [Full review in Spanish]

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Dec 14, 2023

Golda undercuts its intentions of being a gripping drama of Israeli leader Golda Meir during the Yom Kippur War, by showing her as a mostly aloof politician making decisions in safe office rooms. Helen Mirren is not completely convincing as Meir.

| Nov 18, 2023

Golda isn’t a failure of skill, but one of vision.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Nov 17, 2023

The film itself describes Golda as a hero outside of Israel and controversial in her own land, and it does well enough in embodying that very same controversy.

| Original Score: 7.2/10 | Oct 29, 2023

Nattiv’s understated direction brings to mind Tomas Alfredson’s understated adaptation of John Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. The shadow of Le Carré does loom large, which may be attributable to Nicholas Martin’s thoughtful script.

| Oct 19, 2023

Golda is more like a chapter of a dusty history book than an invigorating, timely glimpse into the past.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 10, 2023

... The battles are relayed via satellite to Meir’s cabinet room, where clouds of cigarette smoke stand in for the fog of war — but Mirren is a mensch, commanding a war despite her swollen ankles.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 9, 2023

... The screenplay gets terribly bogged down in dialogue between politicians in smoke-filled rooms.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Oct 9, 2023

Golda lives in the shadow of the film it wants to be, but Mirren’s warm performance and the claustrophobia of it all make it linger regardless.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 9, 2023

Never less than compelling, her [Helen Mirren] work here feels true from scene to scene. But even this star needs more to crack the central mystery.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 9, 2023