I can't remember now what made me want to watch the story of how Golda Meir led Israel through the 1973 Yom Kippur war. When it was announced it became part of a woke flap about representation on screen (ie how legitimate or acceptable it was for a British Gentile woman to play the Israeli PM), went on to have no impact whatsoever that I read about and showed up six months after the fact on a streaming service.

I think my interest is the desire for an ongoing understanding of history, and like all conflict in the region going back millennia, it's still reverberating to this day as Israel and Gaza lob bombs and missiles at each other.

Not that I expected a history lesson – the first thing writers and directors behind movies like this always say is that's not what they're doing – but if they're well made enough there's usually enough in the background to give you context.

One element I found fascinating (and would love to learn how true it was) is when US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Liev Schreiber) tells Meir America can't be seen to be assisting Israel militarily because Saudi Arabia would side with its Arab neighbours and sanction the West by turning of the supply of oil.

And like The King's Speech, we're not following the young men on both sides driving hundreds of tanks, squaring off and being blown up across the deserts of the Middle East. We're following the actions and consciences of the leaders pulling the strings. There's something slightly perverse about doing so (what direct danger was Meir or King Edward announcing WWII ever in?), but it's a legitimate side of the story to tell.

Meir (Helen Mirren) has word from a trusted contact in Mossad that Syria and Egypt are planning an attack around the time of one of Israel's holiest holidays so it can catch its enemy napping. Sitting in meeting rooms with senior military officials, she tries to work out whether to mobilise Israeli forces and maybe provoke something that won't happen, or fail to put up defences fast enough when the Arabs attack.

As history proves, Israel made the wrong choice, and it becomes the story of a plucky underdog facing off using wits, planning and bravado against an onslaught that has them outgunned and outmanned – quite contrary to the superpower Israel has become after three quarters of a century of American support.

Mirren, chain smoking and wearing a prosthetic nose, can do this kind of stuff in her sleep. It seems to capture the early 1970s beautifully in the clothes, hair and décor, and onscreen titles identifying real political figures add a sense of history being portrayed to the prestige storytelling sheen.