THE RED SEA DIVING RESORT/ OPERATION BROTHERS

US, 2019, 129 minutes, Colour.
Chris Evans, Alessandro Nivola, Haley Bennett, Ben Kingsley, Michael Kenneth Williams, Greg Kinnear, Michael Huisman, Mike Ivanir.
Directed by Gideon Raff.

Audiences who come across this Israeli story may immediately think of the events at Entebbe, 1976. This rescue of hostages was well publicised at the time, then to feature films being made. However, this episode of rescue made the news but has not stayed in world memory. This re-creation of the events may help rectify this.

The working title for the film was Operation Brothers, a very worthy title but not particularly startling. On the other hand, there is certain curiosity about resort, a diving resort, on the Red Sea, but on the Sudanese coast.

The opening provides some historical background and perspective. It concerns the famous “Ethiopian Jews�. Living in Ethiopia, they trace their Jewish origins to the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, her giving birth and, for over 2500 years, a community built up. With the uprisings in the 1970s and massacres in villages in Ethiopia, this community wanted help to migrate to Israel, to go to Jerusalem.

The writer-director, from Israel, but often working in the United States, has been responsible for a number of political/espionage thrillers including episodes of the television series, Homeland.

While we are introduced to the community at the opening of the film, seeing the insurgents and their cruelty, we see a group being rescued by Israeli (with US backgrounds) operatives, rescuing a boy from the cornfields, escaping to refugee centres in Sudan, hoping for international aid to transport the thousands of refugees in the centres. The two Americans are played by Chris Evans, Ari, going effectively beyond his nice-guy Avenger, Captain America, Alessandro Nivola, Sammy, a doctor.

In Sudan, they are in contact with a CIA representative, Greg Kinnear, whom they will ultimately rely on for the final rescue.

Ari is a risk-taker, considered reckless, but enthusiastic in his mission to rescue the Ethiopian Jews, proposing it to government officials, represented by Ben Kingsley, and a government Minister (Mark Ivanir). Permission is granted but the project is severely supervised, permission is reluctant and liable to be revoked.

Ari’s plan is to take over a failed diving resort on the Red Sea, do a makeover, recruit an international group of agents (which we see) and use this as a base to take out on floating barges the refugees to a waiting ship. In fact, a group of German tourists suddenly turn up, confusing the issue, but in providing a respectable cover for the operation.

The screenplay is not particularly flattering to the Sudanese authority, the money corruption required to get the rights to lease the resort, the ever-present soldiers, their presumptions, their brutality, seeking out smugglers, shooting hostages.

While the audience knows that the mission was ultimately successful in the thousands of refugees who were transported to Israel, it is in the detail of each of the missions, the threat of the military, the risk of imprisonment, the detail of the rescues that makes the film exciting and watchable. This is especially true of the finale, a rescue by plane.

And the film ends with newsreel footage, quite extensive, of the actual events.

1. The title? The focus? The social concern of the alternate title

2. Based on a true story, audience awareness of the story? The end of the 1970s, the 1980s? An Israeli story?

3. The background of the Ethiopian Jews, the story of the Queen of Sheba, their being her descendants, waiting to return to Israel, to go to Jerusalem?

4. 1979, uprisings in Ethiopia, the brutality, massacres in the villages, the insurgents, the people trying to escape, the religious fervour, identities as Jewish?

5. Ari and Sammy? Their backgrounds? The involvement in the rescue, the truck, the mother concerned about her son playing in the fields, Ari going to rescue him, the pursuit by the insurgents? The escape?

6. The refugees in sedan, in the refugee camps, the Jews hidden amongst so many refugees? The government, dictatorship, the military, the attitudes of the West?

7. The role of Ethan Levin? With the government, the discussions with the Minister? Ari and his proposal? The rescue of the Ethiopian Jews and bringing them to Israel? The idea of the Resort, its failure, on the Red Sea? A bargain? The plan?

8. Ari, separated from his wife, his daughter and her drawing showing him absent, explaining he was at work? A man of action, taking risks, seen as reckless? Determined?

9. Sammy as a Dr, the injury to his hand, working with Ari, going back to practice, Ari trying to persuade him, his being able to be persuaded by Ari? Following him – like a puppy? His willingness to be involved in action with risks?

10. The plan, the resort, the ship cover in the red Sea, the inflatables for the rescue?

11. Ari, his recruiting, internationally, the visits, the men, Rachel? Organising them, their backgrounds, the Mossad connection? Their covers, flying into the sedan?

12. The setting up of the resort, distant from the capital, the irony of the German tourists arriving, the drive, their being allowed to stay – and providing a cover for the operation?

13. The locals, jobs? The military visits, the leader, smiling, ruthless, enjoying the meals, yet interrogations?

14. The execution of the plan, collecting the refugees, radio connection, the inflatables, going to the ship, the numbers on the shelves indicating how many were saved?

15. The presence of the CIA in Sudan? Beau and, his knowledge, presence, the interviews with Ari? Ari appealing to him for help? His plea for the plane, the bone would be remembered for this? The challenge? Beau and and his arrival, the massacres by the military of refugees who refused to give information? His presence on the plane?

16. The military, suspecting smugglers, Ari and the vehicle crashing through, the military firing, the later interrogation by the commander? His presence at the table, meals, threats?

17. Tourists, scuba diving, a respectable cover?

18. Ari, character, leadership, always having an answer, the arrest, the blood, appealing to the official from whom they had got the permit for the resort? They’re being freed? Ari and Sammy and their argument?

19. The Israeli authorities, monitoring all the escapes, the discussions, the risks? Wanting to call off the mission? The Ethiopian man and his determination to stay behind?

20. The finale, the CIA getting the plane, the landing, the troops arriving, the number of refugees, pulling out that she is leaving them on the tarmac, the difficult takeoff, the arrival of Tel Aviv? Mission accomplished?

21. The achievement, the number of people saved, the final credits and the inclusion of so much footage from the actual experience?