In 1972 the King of Jordan called the Munich Olympic disaster by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September "a savage crime against civilization...perpetrated by sick minds." He also said something in Arabic that I couldn’t make out, however it sounded like detailed information on how to make low grade crystal meth, or rice pudding. Initially I was mad at Spielberg for choosing to make a movie like this and about this —it was as if he was doing exactly what I always expect him to do: not raise one important question, but pander to the moron in me. Most of his movies, while entertaining, are pretty cut and dry, and usually have a happy, stupid, condescending and dripping with treacle type of an end (War of the Worlds, The Terminal, even Saving Private Ryan). Sometimes I wish the last scene of War of the Worlds had Tom Cruise just getting smashed with a shovel in the back of the head by, oh say, Bette Midler.
This movie, hopefully, will be different. While it will be a meditation on the stupidity of unnecessary conflicts, we will probably see Bana get caught in the relentless cycle of murder upon murder, as if Spielberg picked up Macbeth and decided to not succumb to his normal audiences by having Lady Macbeth and Macbeth walk off into the sunset, talking about getting her therapy and him a new dog and to quit smoking. This movie can matter, especially as the United States gets ready to invade about twenty other places including Hawaii because President Bush thinks God’s light doesn’t hit islands outside of the United States.
On another note, the story will also make Germans look like raving retards, as Spielberg always seems to enjoy. Besides Indiana Jones, Saving Private Ryan, Shindler’s Wacky List, even episodes of "Amazing Stories,” this movie portrays German snipers killing five of the kidnappers in the botched gun battle that also destroyed two helicopters and caused the deaths of all the Israelis. Three terrorists escaped. Many claim the German snipers actually shot some Israeli athletes. The German government later let the three surviving terrorists go free after a Lufthansa hijacking later the same year. I'm not a German enthusiast (an Alemaniac as some say), I don’t even like German soccer and Octoberfest sort of creeps me out cause I once saw a man eat two pounds of lederhosen and then talk to me about how "“America is so big! So girl! So big! So girl! Cannabis?"”
Spielberg will focus on the aftermath of the Black September group's attack when "Operation Wrath of God" took effect: the Isreali Defense Committee made a secret decision authorizing the Mossad, Eric Bana's Jewish wrecking crew of assassins, to kill Black September and PFLP operatives wherever they could be found. These revenge operations continued for more than 20 years. Do I think the director will use this terrorist attack and its repercussions as a metaphor for what is currently happening in the U.S. and around the world? Do beer bottles also make really great "wife-silencers?” Yup.
The script is written by Tony Kuschner, the Pulitzer Prize winning writer of Angels in America, and the score is of course by Jon Williams. The film is slotted to come out on December 23rd, but Williams hasn't finished working the music. On November 7th reports said that Williams hadn't even started the score! Of course I read that in my company bathroom under "“Fuck you, Matt,"” but still. It turns out that one of the original Black September terrorists, Mohammed Daoud, is still alive. I went to see him last week, he lives near Graceland. When asked why he didn’t star in the movie, he replied again in Arabic and I didn’t understand a goddamn word. I tried to wink at him to get his attention and a response, but he continued eating the cigar I gave him as a peace offering and looking for the ribs waitress. My hope is that this movie will be great, the trailer is gripping and makes me really hope Bana has a topless scene, maybe Geoffrey Rush will debut those wonderous manboobs too, like he did so bountifully in Shine.
Munich Trailer (apple)
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