Opinion
The new Top Gun film tells a very Israeli story
The scenario portrayed in the Tom Cruise film may become a reality sooner than we think
June 11, 2022 09:18
3 min read
The scenario portrayed in the Tom Cruise film may become a reality sooner than we think
June 11, 2022 09:18Who would have thought that an IDF training film would become the latest box-office smash hit? Not getting out to the cinema much nowadays, I know perhaps I’ve lost touch with current trends, but I was startled, if very pleasantly surprised, on my most recent foray to the flicks.
A brave group of fighter pilots, pulsating with testosterone and skill, if little in the way of caution, faces a near-impossible mission. Their target: a subterranean nuclear weapons factory in enemy territory, which means flying their cache of precision-guided bombs at nerve-janglingly low altitude across mountains and ravines bristling with anti-aircraft missiles. Somehow, the script never got around to identifying the rogue state but — duh — that’s Iran, right?
The English-language dubbing was almost seamless. Understandably, they’d dropped the original Israeli title “Bye-bye Bushehr” for the British release, and my word didn’t the lead star look familiar…
Top Gun: Maverick has deservedy earned glowing reviews. (Do check it out if you haven’t already. Even if you might not think it’s your kind of thing, it works. Trust me.) As it continues to rake in the big bucks (already more than $600m worldwide and counting), the acres of coverage in the news have understandably focused on the jaw-dropping aeronautical stunts and the way Tom Cruise defies the ageing processes that beset the rest of humanity.
Hollywood blockbusters do love their catchphrases. In the first Top Gun film it was “I feel the need, the need for speed.” Now in the sequel, veteran hero Maverick (Cruise) tells his young comrades in arms: “Don’t think, just do.”
Escapist popcorn fodder it may be, but what’s gone almost entirely unmentioned is how the plot is drawn from real-life geopolitical events. I’ve seen at least two reviewers speculate that the faceless enemy may be Russia, which makes no sense at all given the vast nuclear arsenal Putin unfortunately already has at its disposal. Though it goes entirely unsaid, the target in the film is surely the Tehran regime.
I’m not saying there’s any great agenda here. Legendary producer Jerry Bruckheimer is no doubt proudly Jewish as a regular attendee at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s events. But as the last of great movie moguls, his only focus will have been delivering the most dazzling spectacle a Hollywood mega-budget can buy. The tale of fighter aces facing overwhelming odds is anyway pretty much a straight rip-off of the first Star Wars film (itself inspired by the heroics of World War Two movies).
Still, you can’t help but be struck by the contrast between the on-screen action and all the jaw-jaw in reality. The Biden administration hasn’t yet given up hope of reviving the nuclear treaty with Iran, signed by Obama and then abandoned by Trump. Meanwhile, the Islamic Republic continues to hold up two fingers to the international order, in the latest twist removing the cameras from its nuclear sites that had been installed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to keep an eye on its activities.
The can has been kicked down the road repeatedly for years, but regardless of the exact details of weapons-grade material and nuclear breakout times, we know where this story is headed, unless something is done. Israel has known when to act in the past: Iraq in 1981, Syria in 2007.
Iran presents a far more formidable challenge, given the vastly greater distance and the way the regime has dispersed and buried its facilities. And yes, it seems that a sustained campaign of espionage, sabotage and targeted assassinations has kept a lid on the nuclear weapons programme’s progress in recent years.
But who’s to say the action up on the big screen now isn’t a preview of forthcoming attractions out in the real world? Naftali Bennett cautioned weeks ago: “Without pressure from the West, the Islamic regime in Iran could get their hands on a nuclear bomb very soon. The world must take a firm stance.”
Considering the previously inexhaustible capacity of the international community for vacillation, denial and procrastination when it comes to the threat from Iran, I’m guessing Bennett isn’t exactly holding his breath in hopeful anticipation.
Israel has repeatedly warned it “reserves the right to self-defence and action against Iran to stop its nuclear programme if the international community fails to do so”.
The moment of “don’t think, just do” may be fast approaching.
