Movie Review: 'Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story' | Movies & TV ...

By Joe Bendel Created: May 17, 2012 Last Updated: May 17, 2012

Company Commander Yoni Netanyahu at a march in Jerusalem, in the documentary ?Follow Me.? (Courtesy of the Netanyahu Family / Crystal City Entertainment)

Among Israel?s fallen heroes, Jonathan ?Yoni? Netanyahu is revered to an extent probably second only to the tragically gallant Hannah Senesh. However, Netanyahu?s ultimate sacrifice came while leading one of the most successful military operations in the history of the state of Israel.

The life of the commander of the Raid on Entebbe is celebrated in Jonathan Gruber and Ari Daniel Pinchot?s ?Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story,? which opens this Friday in New York.

Yoni Netanyahu was born to lead. An ardent Israeli patriot, he always had the look of a man of action. Netanyahu was the oldest of three brothers, indeed including Benjamin ?Bibi? Netanyahu, Israel?s current prime minister. The family was always quite close, frequently writing back and forth while the eldest brother of destiny studied in America.

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Thanks to a wealth of surviving letters, Netanyahu?s voice comes through loud and clear in ?Follow Me.? In fact, the film is most successful in conveying a sense of what it was like to come of age and start a new life as a young man at a time when Israel was under constant threat of attack from its belligerent neighbors.

Somewhat surprisingly, the film steadily builds toward the moment of truth in Uganda, but the actual boots-on-the-ground military operation is handled rather perfunctorily. (Perhaps the filmmakers assumed most interested audiences would already be well-versed in the details of the operation that was memorably dramatized several times in the 1970s, including Menahem Golan?s ?Operation Thunderbolt? and Irvin Kershner?s ?Raid on Entebbe?).

In addition to Netanyahu?s brother Benjamin, two former prime ministers?Shimon Peres and Ehud Barak?also sat for on-camera interviews, which speaks volumes about Netanyahu?s significance to his countrymen. Yet without question, some of the most insightful and moving reminiscences come from his comrades-in-arms.

Unless viewers truly have hatred in their hearts, there are episodes in ?Follow Me? that will absolutely choke them up. Years later, Netanyahu?s family and loved ones still clearly feel his loss acutely.

Some moments are quite beautiful, including Benjamin Netanyahu?s memories of his brother?s desert wedding, which he explains perfectly represented him as a rugged son of Israel. Other remembrances are deeply tragic. Altogether, they add up to an eventful but all-too-short life.

While ?Follow Me? is very informative, it is a documentary with unusual emotional heft. Stirringly documenting the humanity and dedication of the IDF soldiers and officers (particularly but not exclusively Netanyahu), it is a film that American students (arguably even more than their Israeli counterparts) truly ought to see.

A thoughtful and moving elegy to a poetic man of action, ?Follow Me: the Yoni Netanyahu Story? opens this Friday (May 18) in New York, uptown at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center and downtown at the Quad Cinema.

Director: Ari Daniel Pinchot, Jonathan Gruber
Cast: Benjamin Netanyahu, Ehud Barak, Shimon Peres, Benzion Netanyahu
Running Time: 84 minutes

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