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The leadership of Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir is examined in absorbing detail in RichardTrank's new documentary.

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Review: 'The Prime Ministers' a vivid look atIsrael's early leaders

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By Gary Goldstein

November 5, 2013 , 6:00 p.m.

The documentary "The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers,"

adapted by producer-director Richard Trank from the book

by Yehuda Avner, examines the geopolitical state of Israel

under the leadership of two of its earlier prime ministers,

Levi Eshkol (1963-1969) and Golda Meir (1969-1974).

Co-written and produced by Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder

of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Museum of

Tolerance in Los Angeles, it is the first of a two-part series;

the second film will be released next spring.

Avner, who worked as advisor and speechwriter to Eshkol

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In th is October 1 9 7 3 ph oto, Golda Meir , r ig h t , Defen se Min ister , Mosh e Da y a n , cen ter , a n d A lu f Hoffi

spea k to tr oops du r in g th e Yom Kippu r Wa r in th e Gola n Heig h ts. (Ron Fr en kel / Wiesen th a l

Cen ter /Isr a el Gov er n m en t / Nov em ber 2 1 , 1 9 7 3 )

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and Meir as well as to later Israeli Prime Ministers

Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres (that trio

will be the focus of the follow-up film), serves as this movie's

avuncular (he's now 84) on-camera narrator and raconteur.

PHOTOS: Behind the scenes of movies and TV

Avner's many observations and he-was-there stories — a

who's who of international political figures from the late

1940s to the mid-1970s — combine to paint an engrossing if

essentially one-sided picture of the key episodes of Israel's

first 25 years: its establishment as a Jewish state in 1948;

1967's Six-Day War; the country's close alliance with the

United States; 1973's Yom Kippur War and more.

A wide and excellent array of archival footage and photos

vividly accompany Avner's recitation; the numerous clips of

Meir, which portray her from her youth to her last days as

prime minister, are a stirring reminder of what an

extraordinary leader — and woman — she was.

The film's main misstep, however, is its unconvincing use of

celebrity voices to re-create various speeches and letters by

Meir (Sandra Bullock? Really?), Eshkol (Leonard Nimoy),

Begin (Christoph Waltz) and Rabin (Michal Douglas). Though

well-intended, their inclusion proves a needless distraction in

an otherwise smart and dignified presentation.

calendar@latimes.com

-------------------------

'The Prime Ministers: The Pioneers'

MPAA rating: None

Running time: 1 hour, 55 minutes

Playing: At Laemmle's Royal Theatre, West Los Angeles;

Laemmle's Town Center 5, Encino

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johnz522 at 9:05 AM November 06, 2013

"Co-written and produced by Rabbi Marvin Hier, the founder of the Simon WiesenthalCenter and the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles."That tells one everything they need to know about this movie. It is 100% pure zionistpropaganda and will continue to offer a revisionist historical narrative of Palestine and theindigenous people who were forced from their homes by the European zionists.

Resident Boomer at 8:46 AM November 06, 2013

Yeah, well then maybe Barbra Streisand would be better for Golda than Sandra Bullock?

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