Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story, review by John Delia

 A

SPECIAL

FILM

OF DEVOTION

FOLLOW ME: THE YONI NETANYAHU STORY

Review by John Delia

Taking a trip in the mind of someone takes special directing ability to add a sense of devotion to the subject.  With Follow Me: The Yoni Netanyahu Story directors Jonathan Gruber and Ari Daniel Pinchot show home video combined with TV news footage while commentators provide background giving their audience a chance to walk in this great Jewish soldier’s combat boots.  

The film starts out with radios crackling out an attack in 1976 on the Entebbe Airport in Uganda during a raid on positions held by Palestinians who have a hundred Jewish hostages.  The eerie messages are both ominous and hopeful.  Switch to home movies of the Netanyahu boys Yonathan, Benjamin and Iddo, three children who are destined for distinction in medicine, politics with Yani a war hero.  Their youngster lives are uneventful yet charming and models of a good family.  

Being the eldest, Yonatan (Yoni) has his eye on becoming a leader and attends Harvard.  After leaving the Ivy League school he searches for love and the possibility of a family.  During this period he marries, but inside he wants to be challenged so he goes to Jerusalem and joins the army. Desires to be a Lieutenant Colonel pushes him so much that his marriage suffers.  When he’s asked to lead a group called The Unit (Sayeret Matkal), his personal life starts to spiral out of control.

 

The documentary uses excellent commentators including Benjamin Netanyahu, the reigning Prime Minister of Israel and his brother Iddo a noted physician, author and playwright, several of The Unit in which all three of the Netanyahu brothers served, Yoni’s ex-wife Tutti and girlfriend Bruria.  

 

Trying not to hold anything back, the Directors serve up a lot of home videos, personal photos and war footage of Yani. I would have liked to see more about his relationship with brothers Benjamin and Iddo who’s lives were taking a different path, his father’s power over him and the families development during Yani’s difficult year.  With a biography based on languid material the film gets tiring at times.

The film has not been rated by the MPAA but does contain some war violence.  

FINAL ANALYSIS:  A reasonably good biography showing a massive effort. (B)

Additional Film Information:

• Cast: Benjamin Netanyahu, Iddo Netanyahu, Benzion Netanyahu, Tutti (ex-wife) and Bruria (girlfriend)
• Directed by: Jonathan Gruber, Ari Daniel Pinchot
• MPAA Rating: Unrated
• Genre: Documentary, Biography
• Running Time: 1 hr 24 min
• Opening Date: May 18, 2012
• Distributed by: International Film Circuit, inc presents a Crystal City Entertainment film
• Florida Theaters Releasing:
  Fort Lauderdale: Cinema Paradiso,
  Boca Raton: Regal Shadowood, Living Room Theaters,
  Delray: Movies of Delray, Regal Delray 18
  Lake Worth: Movies of Lake Worth
  Miami: O Cinema
  West Palm: Muvico Parisian 20, Cobb Downtown at the Gardens