FOLLOW ME - The Yoni Netanyahu Story

Directed by Jonathan Gruber & Ari Daniel Pinchot

Featuring Interviews with: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Minister of Defense Ehud Barak, Yoni’s ex-wife Tutti and girlfriend Bruria, Members of the elite Entebbe mission strike force, Sayeret Matkal

Narrator: Marton Csokas (The Debt)

USA • 2011 • 87 Minutes • Color & B&W • in English
Exhibition Format: Digital

JULY 4, 1976 Entebbe, Uganda. Led by Lieutenant Colonel Yonatan Netanyahu, crack Israeli commandos race from their airplanes covered by the midnight darkness. Methodically, they approach a non-descript airline terminal, burst inside, killing the stunned terrorists. Helpless and shocked, 103 hostages lift their heads and gratefully weep at the mesmerizing sight of their saviors.

As the alarms begin to sound, the Israeli soldiers strike with surgical precision and speed -- a lightning bolt of controlled, finely rehearsed fury. It is all over in a few minutes. Terrorists lay dead. The hostages rush out to board the transport planes waiting to evacuate the hostages to safety. During the mission, a lone shot from a control tower burst in the night -- and a sharp cry for help is heard. That cry would become the cry of an entire nation, mourning the loss of its prodigal son… Thirty-year-old Yonatan Netanyahu has been shot dead. And with his death, Yonatan became an international hero.

"Thoughtful and moving, an elegy to a poetic man of action."
– Joe Bendel

“Conveys a bright sense of a vibrant young man in love with his life, with women and with Israel.”
- Jordana Horn, The Jewish Daily Forward

An intimate journey into a young hero’s mind, the narration for this compelling journey was drawn from Yonatan Netanyahu's own letters and words, which unveil the complex character of this thoroughly modern young hero. Yonatan's words are deeply moving through his deep-rooted introspection, self-understanding, and heartfelt passions. Featuring interviews with three Israeli Prime Ministers, Yoni’s ex-wife (for the first time), and recently released audio from the Entebbe operation itself—–Follow Me brings a rare portrait of Israel’s elite soldiers and their greatest hero to the big screen.

The film consists of two story arcs that tragically and heroically connect. The first is the dramatic Entebbe hijack and rescue -- 8 days when a nation held its breath and executed a military miracle that redefined the Jewish Nation’s call – “Never Again!”. The second is the remarkable life story of Yonatan Netanyahu, a young soldier who struggled to find the balance between his family and the Nation he loved.