applecohen This movie will inspire you. It is a well made movie about the 1948 Israeli war, and the difference that each individual can make to an entire country's destiny.I do not like war movies - but this is a movie about survival and ingenuity. There is no drama in this film. It is about people who made a difference. It lets you understand how the nation of Israel came to being - without any help from the entire world.It is a war movie, but not about guns and planes - it is about people. There is humour in the movie and there is gravity. You may not like Israeli people - but you will understand why they were made tough, and have to stay tough. Hats off to Nancy Spielberg for documenting a vital part of history that would have simply been forgotten. Highly recommended.

dunsuls-1 At 90 minutes this film crams the 1948 war of survival or as the world called it Jew /Palestine Arab"Civil War"into a coherent timeline to set the stage for the story of Israelis birth of its own Air Force in a riveting tale as told in interviews with serving pilots as well as films from that time.I learned a LOT as well as I was again fascinated by this thrilling story of struggle and perseverance.A must see for History buffs. The story of How cargo airplanes were bought in the US as surplus for 5 thousand dollars is spellbinding. The first fighters were patch work ME 109's from Checksolvokia which were dissembled and flown into Israel in those cargo planes,and on and on. The story of the air raid in Cairo was also new to me.

sansail31 Above and Beyond is the first documentary that I've seen that blends a terrific true story with state of the art computer generated imagery (CGI). I'm sure that the Spielberg Family dumped a huge amount of money into the project and it shows; the airplane footage appeared so authentic you believed that it was contemporary footage, filmed out of the cockpits of the planes back in 1948. Think of the first 30 minutes of "Saving Private Ryan." I found this so appealing as I have always been turned off by the "dramatic recreations" that are so common in today's lesser war story documentaries. But the imagery would have been nothing without a great true story and this one could only be called a true modern day miracle. And so surprising and ironic.. particularly the pedigree of the airplanes that turned back the invading Arab armies. Anyone interested in the 20th Century warfare would greatly enjoy. For although it is a documentary, it ranks up with the best war movies that have ever been produced.

emprof Essentially, after the UN created the original two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian situation, the Arabs rejected it and claimed they would obliterate the Jews. This documentary tells the story of how mainly Jewish American World War II pilots volunteered to fight on behalf of the newly created state of Israel in 1948 and 1949. Using ragtag airplanes they helped defeat the attacking armies from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq. It was a miracle.This documentary interviews the surviving American pilots and has footage from the war. It shows how difficult it was for the Israelis to acquire weapons to fight for their survival. At the time the United States had an arms embargo against Israel and the other Middle Eastern countries. An American, Al Schwimmer, was instrumental in acquiring the needed weapons and planes. He was indicted in 1950 for violating the US Neutrality Act, but emigrated to Israel. He was pardoned by President Clinton many years later even though he never requested it.