Above and Beyond (FILM REVIEW)
Above and Beyond
Film Review
by Kam Williams
Reverential Retrospective Recounts U.S. Pilots’ Role in Israel’s War of
Independence
Israel found itself losing its War
of Independence in 1948 because it had no fighter planes with which to respond
to air attacks on the part of its Arab adversaries. Luckily, a number of World
War II fighter pilots from half a world away would answer its desperate plea
for assistance.
Though this ragtag band of brothers considered themselves more
American than Jewish, they were nevertheless willing to risk their U.S.
citizenship and their very lives by volunteering to come to the rescue. So, they
started by smuggling planes out of the country in order to train behind the
Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia.
Next, they flew to the war-torn Middle East
where they would play a pivotal role in turning the tide of the conflict, while
cultivating an unexpected Jewish pride in the process. The daring exploits of these
unsung aviators are recounted in vivid fashion in Above and Beyond, a reverential documentary directed by Roberta
Grossman.
Among the
octet feted here is Leon Frankel, a bomber pilot who had received a Navy Cross
for the heroism he’d exhibited over Okinawa.
Another is Coleman Goldstein, who had been shot down over France in 1943
and declared missing in action. However, he survived WWII by making his way
over the Pyrenees to Spain
where he was rescued and reunited with his squadron. Then there’s the late
Milton Rubenfeld, fondly remembered here by his son Paul, better know as comedian
Pee Wee Herman.
Inter
alia, we learn that the members of the 101st painted “Angels of
Death” as a logo on their aircrafts’ fuselages. On one mission, a former
commercial pilot for TWA tricked Egyptian air traffic controllers into
believing that he was about to land in Cairo
before dropping explosives on a city which had never been bombed before.
Another
recounts observing refugees from Hitler’s death camps kissing the ground upon
arriving in Israel.
Besides fighting, the 101st not only flew supplies to the front
lines but evacuated wounded soldiers from the Negev Desert
battlefields.
As the
curtain comes down, one ace waxes rhapsodic with, “God allowed us to survive
World War II, so we could come to Israel and help the remnants of our
people survive.” Hear hear!
Excellent
(4 stars)
Unrated
In English and Hebrew
with subtitles
Running time: 87 minutes
Distributor: International
Film Circuit
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