Munich

I went to see Munich with the boys.

It was a good movie. The movie was rather brutal. It was violent and it wasn't dressed up and polished. It was mostly un-Speilbergish. It was shot quite gritty with a lot of handheld, high contrast shots. Unlike his usual squeaky clean style. Although I like Spielburg in all his forms.

It was nice to see Spielburg asking questions, and answering them more quietly than usual. There was plenty of time given to the Palistinians as well as the Israelis. The terrorists were humanised. And the Isrealis often seem just as terrible as the Palistinians. There was one bit where the Prime Minister said: "Every civilisation finds it necessary to negotiate compromises with its own values" which led Israel on a trajectory of violence, assassinating the people who hurt Israel. Israel would not compromise on having its power threatened, but it would compromise on the values that give legitimacy to that power.

I found it interesting that in the last scene of the film was shot across the river from the UN Headquarters with the building in the background while the characters talked in an overgrown playground probably symbolising lost innocence. And the very last shot was of the twin towers. As if Steven was saying “We need to work towards peace because violence just gives birth to violence.” Really he wasn’t saying anything new. But as is often the case with truth it gains more currency when you have gone on a journey to find it.

“We are supposed to be righteous.”