Gov. Sarah Palin with filmmaker Elan Frank
Photo courtesy Elan Frank
I was visiting with a friend and Israeli war hero the other day, a guy with great stories named Elan Frank, and all we could talk about was Sarah Palin.
Let me explain. Frank was awarded the Medal of Honor in 1982 after he rescued 25 Israeli soldiers caught in a nighttime terrorist ambush deep inside Lebanon. The conditions were so risky that Frank’s co-pilot suggested they abort the mission. Frank ignored the advice, and under intense enemy fire, he made a daredevil 360 degree move to speed up the helicopter’s landing and rescue the troops.
That was 26 years ago. Now Frank is a busy filmmaker.
Earlier this year, he called the office of the governor of Alaska to ask permission to shoot Sarah Palin for his new film, a documentary about powerful women of the world. Because he had spent a lot of time in Alaska, he’d heard about the feisty Palin and thought she’d be a natural.
Well, guess what? She said yes.
So there he was in Alaska a few weeks later, with his camera practically glued for several days to the eight-months-pregnant governor as she went about her daily business.
As fate would have it, soon thereafter Palin became the most talked-about woman on the planet, and Frank became the proprietor of film footage everyone wanted to see.
While I sat in his office last week, he took several calls from the press, including one from a producer at Fox television, who’s flying him to New York this week to appear on Fox News’ "On The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
