The film’s saving grace is the focused recreation of the actual rescue that unfortunately gets diluted because of Padilha’s decision to swiftly cut between it and the Minus 16 performance. What does help immensely is the dance’s soundtrack, the powerful Hebrew passover song, ‘Echad Mi Yodea’. Though not a lengthy film, it’s too excruciating a wait to get to the good parts of 7 Days in Entebbe.

The script is riddled with platitudes. Even so, the second half builds up to a fairly exciting climax. The intercutting between a contemporary dance performance in Tel Aviv and the fierce fighting back in Entebbe is particularly noteworthy.

All in all, though, a turbulent ride to a known destination.

7 Days In Entebbe has some interesting moments from the past featuring ex-Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his elder brother Yoni Netanyahu. For those who follow world politics and the Middle-East closely, this film offers compelling insights with strong artistic sensibilities.

The most satisfying scenes in the film involve Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin (Ashkenazi) and Defence Minister Shimon Peres (Marsan) discussing their options, driven largely by political one-upmanship.