Historically accurate and full of suspense, Operation Thunderbolt shares one of the most trying events in Israeli history, and proves that real life can be as gripping as Hollywood’s fictitious tales.

“If in 24 hours the Israelis do no accept our terms, we will start to shoot them one by one,” a weaselly- faced terrorist says after separating out the Israeli passengers.

Operation Thunderbolt tells the 1976 true story of Air France Flight 139. Departing from Tel Aviv and bound for Paris, the plane was hijacked mid-flight by anti-Israeli terrorists calling themselves Freedom Fighters. The plane was rerouted to Uganda’s Entebbe airport, where the Jewish passengers were held hostage as their captors negotiated with the Israeli government demanding the release of all imprisoned terrorists. The film depicts the experience of the 102 Israeli hostages over their week-long captivity, the Israeli government’s struggle in deciding how to respond, and the rest of the world’s anxious watch in wait for the outcome of the horrific situation.

What starts out as a normal flight soon turns into everyone’s worst nightmare. Twenty minutes in, a female passenger unstraps a gun laced to her thigh while her male companion breaks open the champagne bottle he’s been holding to reveal a grenade. Pointing her gun at the passengers, the terrorist yells, “Everything will be alright if you stay in your seats and obey!” as terror breaks out among the passengers.

Operation Thunderbolt explores the effect of the hijacking on a wide spread of people, from the victims to the politicians to the military and even the media. As the film reveals, so many different factors play in to the response to such a matter of international security. Military officers plan a rescue mission, but the ‘go ahead’ has to come from the government, where family members have been begging that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (his first time filling that position), not “play roulette with the lives of our children.”

The film also examines the emotional impact of the hijacking on Israel and Jews worldwide. Only thirty years after the Holocaust, the hijacking was an act of violent anti-Semitism, a reminder of the dangerous prejudice that most people believed was behind them. At the beginning of the film, a young German man finds his seat on the plane next to an attractive Israeli woman and proceeds to express his genuine interest in the young Jewish nation, telling her how much he would like to visit someday. In response, she politely acknowledges the fact that many Germans do visit — both are silently struck by how dramatically the world has changed in just a few years. But, in stark contrast, just moments later, an old man with numbers tattooed to his arm has a gun pointed at him by a beautiful German terrorist as he walks nervously to the bathroom, she scowling and threatening his life.

Made with support from the Israeli government, Operation Thunderbolt features real-life political icons Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin. Edited to their advantage, the familiar politicians are given a rare chance to shine as movie stars.

The film also offers a fascinating glimpse of Idi Amin, the infamous Ugandan dictator who admired Hitler and ruthlessly killed hundreds of thousands of his own people (though he is portrayed by an actor, not the real-life dictator). The egomaniac Amin greets the terrorists with a smile and supplies them with more troops. But he simultaneously works to appease the Jewish hostages, addressing them warmly telling them, “I’m sorry, I want to help you, but now it is up to my very good friend General Rabin.”

Operation Thunderbolt is mostly a study in how people behave when put in a life-threatening situation. A family with young children, a Holocaust survivor, an Orthodox man, a celebrity actress and politically-minded youths all face their impending fate together. Fear breeds solidarity, but it also keeps them obedient. When they are told what to do, they do it.

As a result, every little act of resistance is a sign of great character. Bravery is shown to be nothing more than the ability to ignore overwhelming fear long enough to take action.