If Angelina Jolie’s Unbroken whet your appetite for more tales of WWII heroics, Roberta Grossman’s Above and Beyond will likely satisfy that craving.
The Nancy Spielberg-produced documentary details how a handful of American pilots — some Jewish, some not — aided Israel’s War of Independence in 1948–49, when the discovery of Hitler’s concentration camps made the formation of a Jewish state a top concern among world leaders.
In an interview with Women and Hollywood, Spielberg recalls the origins of the film: “I was first drawn to this story when I read an obituary titled “Godfather of the Israeli Air Force Died” that went on to describe how an American TWA flight engineer was credited with smuggling planes out of the US against an embargo and basically masterminding the creation of Israel’s Air Force. It read like a fictional action-adventure, replete with swooning women, bar brawls, and heroics. But it was true!
Above and Beyond opens January 30.
READ NEXT: Women and Hollywood’s interview with Above and Beyond director Roberta Grossman and producer Nancy Spielberg
