Sherry Darling
New Yorker
Anyone seen it yet? It's WAY up there on my list.
MaxFisher said:The best Speilberg film in years.
MrsSpringsteen said:Amazing, powerful film. Especially in light of the context we see it in in 2005/6, maybe that was Steven Spielberg's intention. The book it is based on is called Vengeance, if anyone's interested in reading it.
"Every man we killed has been replaced by someone worse"
Originally posted by Headache in a Suitcase
as for those who are afraid because of the violence... i believe some of the posters here have over-stated the violence just a bit. there are a few gruesome scenes but it is hardly the most violent movie i've ever seen. it's on task with your average war movie as far as blood and gore goes. the opening of saving private ryan was worse, so if you saw that, you can see this.
A_Wanderer said:I have seen some pretty heavy criticism of the portayal of the hit team as morally torn with a few experienced individuals talking about the operation as a justified retaliation against murderers. Also that the matching of the Israeli victims to the killing of terrorists creates a false moral equivalence between terrorism and fighting terrorism.
Attack planner blasts 'Munich'
From Reuters
December 28, 2005
The Palestinian mastermind of the Munich Olympics attack in which 11 Israeli athletes died said Tuesday he had no regrets and that Steven Spielberg's new film about the incident would not deliver reconciliation.
The Hollywood filmmaker has called "Munich," which dramatizes the 1972 raid and Israel's reprisals against members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, his "prayer for peace."
Abu Daoud planned the Munich attack on behalf of PLO splinter group Black September, but he did not take part and is not featured in the film. He voiced outrage at not being consulted for the thriller and accused Spielberg of pandering to the Jewish state.
"Spielberg showed the movie to widows of the Israeli victims, but he neglected the families of Palestinian victims," said Daoud, who has not seen the film. "How many Palestinian civilians were killed before and after Munich?"
MrsSpringsteen said:Roger Ebert's review
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051222/REVIEWS/51214004
"Steven Spielberg's "Munich" is an act of courage and conscience. The director of "Schindler's List," the founder of the Shoah Foundation, the most successful and visible Jew in the world of film, has placed himself between Israel and the Palestinians, looked at decades of terrorism and reprisal, and had one of his characters conclude, "There is no peace at the end of this." Spielberg's film has been called an attack on the Palestinians and he has been rebuked as "no friend of Israel." By not taking sides, he has taken both sides.
The film has deep love for Israel, and contains a heartfelt moment when a mother reminds her son why the state had to be founded: "We had to take it because no one would ever give it to us. Whatever it took, whatever it takes, we have a place on earth at last." With this statement, I believe, Spielberg agrees to the bottom of his soul. Yet his film questions Israel's policy of swift and full retribution for every attack."
........"Spielberg is using the effective form of a thriller to argue that loops of mutual reprisal have led to endless violence in the Middle East, Ireland, India and Pakistan, the former Yugoslavia, the former Soviet Union, Africa, and on and on. Miraculous, that the pariah nation of South Africa was the one place where irreconcilable enemies found a way to peacefully share the same land together.
At crucial times in a nation’s history, its best friends may be its critics. Spielberg did not have to make “Munich,” but he needed to. With this film he has dramatically opened a wider dialogue, helping to make the inarguable into the debatable. As a thriller, “Munich” is efficient, absorbing, effective. As an ethical argument, it is haunting. And its questions are not only for Israel but for any nation that believes it must compromise its values to defend them."
Ebert's interview w/ Steven Spielberg
http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051225/PEOPLE/512250311
"He repeated that he was wounded by the charge that he is "no friend of Israel" because his film asks questions about Israeli policies. "This film is no more anti-Israel than a similar film which offered criticism of America is anti-America," he said. "Criticism is a form of love. I love America, and I'm critical of this administration. I love Israel, and I ask questions. Those who ask no questions may not be a country's best friends."
Is the Middle East without a solution? I asked. Will there be an endless cycle of terror and reprisal? What about the startling fact that Israel's entrenched political enemies, Ariel Sharon from the right, and Shimon Peres from the left, have resigned from their parties and joined in a new party that says it is seeking a path to peace?
"What I believe," Spielberg said, "is that there will be peace between Israelis and Palestinians in our lifetimes."
i saw this in the summer while the cbc was on strike and showing endless reruns of 'the passionate eye'. i found it to be a riveting documentary.trevster2k said:Anyone see the documentary "One Day in September"? It really explained what happened that day. A poorly planned rescue leading to a horrific conclusion.