Given
the wit and verve Avner shows during his interview segments, viewers might
assume he was in grade school when he served as Eshkol’s speech writer and
English correspondent. However, he was
there, in the field, when the State of Israel was first declared. Becoming a young
but trusted member of Eshkol’s inner circle, Avner was on-hand for the planning
sessions during the Six Days War. Begin
was also present, forcefully advocating Israel take advantage of the crisis to
liberate the Old City of Jerusalem. Although
cautious, Eshkol recognized the historic opportunity presenting itself and
acted decisively.
Where
the Six Days War was an unqualified triumph for the Israeli military, the Yom
Kippur War initially threatened the very existence of Israel. Yet, Golda Meir rallied the country. In
desperate need of military aid, she turned to the Watergate-embroiled Richard
Nixon, who authorized a massive emergency airlift. The Western European parties
in Socialist International were not so responsive, refusing to allow the
American transports to refuel en-route to their embattled fellow member state. Fortunately, Israel survived, allowing Meir
to publicly shame her socialist colleagues.
As
the first of a two part documentary series (co-produced by Trank and Rabbi
Marvin Heir), Pioneers focuses on
Eshkol and Meir, but Begin and Rabin appear in brief but significant supporting
roles. Considering Gravity’s continuing box-office dominance, a new Sandra Bullock
movie ought to be major news, but her voice-over work as Meir is probably not likely
to get the attention it deserves.
Regardless, she well captures the Prime Minister’s humanity and
resoluteness.
Likewise,
it is great to at least hear Leonard Nimoy again, vividly bringing Eshkol’s
words to life. Christoph Waltz, who
narrated the writings of Theodor Herzl in Trank’s valuable It is No Dream, also nicely gives voice to Begin. Frankly, Pioneers
is quite a big name production, with Michael Douglas rounding out the voice
cast as Rabin and Emmy winning composer Lee Holdridge penning and conducting
the score.
