Posted on 06/28/2005 7:12:34 AM PDT by kromike
Stephen Spielberg's "Balanced" View of Terror By Debbie Schlussel FrontPageMagazine.com | June 28, 2005
Much is being made about Steven Spielberg's upcoming inaccurate, revisionist history and "balance" (code for morally equivocating Islamic terrorists with their victims) in his new film, Vengeance -- about the Israeli Mossad's tracking down of Palestinian terrorists who murdered Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. But anyone who knows the history of this movie, based on a George Jonas book of the same name, should not be surprised.
Jonas admits he has only one "source" for most of the information in his book and that many of the incidents could not be verified. Many of his "facts" were refuted by testimony in a Norwegian trial of Mossad agents who were caught accidentally killing a Moroccan waiter there. Spielberg has not contacted anyone in the Mossad, the Israeli government, or the agents who were involved in the operation, some of whom discredited Jonas' book.
As I wrote in a column on Spielberg's Vengeance, last summer, Spielberg halted production to avoid upsetting terrorists during the Olympics. Just out of respect and "sensitivity" for terrorists' wishes. Then, Spielberg realized this was a bad P.R. move and had his publicist claim the reason was something almost as absurd, but much less believable: that Spielberg was just too upset each day--sobbing while reading pages of the script--to continue. Right, and the sob-scenes in E.T. also made him halt production. Not.
One wonders if Spielberg's "balance" will involve visiting the family of Cleveland-based parents of David Berger, the handsome, American-born, Israeli Olympic weight-lifter, who was among the murdered athletes. Don't count on it. The film, starring the outspokenly pro-Palestinian Ben Kingsley, is bound to be no different than the "balanced" Oscar-winning documentary, "One Day in September," which -- as I wrote in another column -- showed the murder of the Israeli Olympic athletes from the victims' families' and Palestinian terrorists' points of view--as an action thriller.
Spielberg's "Vengeance," appears to be an indictment of our current War on Terror. According to Reuters, Daniel Craig, who stars in the film, told an entertainment magazine that "it's about how vengeance doesn't...work -- blood breeds blood." The one accidental assassination -- of the Moroccan waiter in Norway -- is being used to discredit the entire operation, which was a successful War on Terror. There will always be accidental deaths in fighting terror, but that does not mean there should not be a strong and swift response to it.
Don't hold your breath for real balance, such as Spielberg visiting terror-host state Syria (on the State Department's terrorist list) to interrogate and film Jamil Al-Gashey, the only surviving murderer of the Israeli Olympic athletes. He enjoys a life of safety and freedom under the protection of Syria's government, where he moved because, as he said, he didn't want his daughter to grow up without a father. No biggie that he killed the fathers of several daughters of the Israeli athletes. Don't look for any of that in "Fighting Terror is a Bad Idea, as Told by Steven Spielberg."
Question: Why did Spielberg make the Nazis look bad, and even melt to their deaths, in "Raiders by the Lost Ark"? Where was the balance then?
Boy, Debbie sure outed Spielberg for the anti-Semite he really is. /sarcasm.
"Keep this in mind when you shell out $9 to see "War of the Worlds". Personally, I boycotted Spielberg long ago..."
I think that I will wait until it reaches the 59-cent rack at the video store. Of course, you could always procure a bootleg copy...
Tip O The Hat---Ron Dog
Spielberg thriller leaves Israeli spies in the cold
Reuters ^
Posted on 06/26/2005 10:42:53 AM CDT by TheOtherOne
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1430986/posts
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Steven Spielberg, famed for Hollywood blockbusters, is keeping mum about his latest project, a dramatisation of tit-for-tat killings that followed the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes by Palestinian guerrillas.
Such is the secrecy that even the Israeli spymasters who commanded the reprisals after the Munich Games have been left out in the cold.
Five retired Mossad agents, all of whom served in key intelligence posts during the hunt for Palestinian guerrilla chiefs in Europe and the Middle East to avenge the slaying of Israel's 11 sportsmen, voiced surprise at hearing of the film.
"I know nothing at all about this project," a former Mossad director who declined to be named told Reuters.
Entertainment reports say the film, provisionally titled "Vengeance" and due to reach cinemas in December, is based on a book of the same name whose account of one of the most painful chapters in Jewish history has been widely discredited.
Spielberg spokesman Marvin Levy said the project had been comprehensively researched.
"This film has been built from many, many sources. One thing I can say is we expect this to be a balanced film," he said.
Best known in Israel for "Schindler's List", a Holocaust epic that ends with a pro-Zionist message, Spielberg was quoted as saying in a USA Today interview last week that the new film was a chance to explore his Jewish faith and fear of terrorism.
In the preface to "Vengeance", author George Jonas declares himself a supporter of Israel. But according to at least one member of Spielberg's cast, Daniel Craig, the screenplay is a less-than-flattering portrayal of Israeli tactics.
"It's about how vengeance doesn't ... work -- blood breeds blood," Craig told entertainment magazine Empire.
THIRTY YEARS OF SILENCE
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office, which oversees Mossad and its archives, said it had received no request for assistance from any film production on Munich or its aftermath.
It was not clear if help would have been forthcoming.
Israel has never formally claimed responsibility for the shootings, explosive booby-traps and cross-border commando raids that killed 10 Palestinians linked to Black September, the group that carried out the deadly attack in Munich's Olympic Village.
The campaign included the 1973 slaying in Norway of a Moroccan waiter mistaken for Black September's leader. Six members of the Israeli hit team were prosecuted for murder. Israel eventually paid compensation to the victim's family.
"That whole period is too sensitive, even 30 years on," said an ex-deputy Mossad chief. "No one really wants to discuss it."
But Zvi Zamir, who headed Mossad in the 1970s, broke his silence after "Vengeance", purporting to be an expose based on the confessions of a Mossad ex-assassin, was first published.
According to the book, Israel largely abandoned its agents mid-mission in Europe, where several were hunted down and killed by Palestinian counter-espionage teams -- an account not borne out by news reports nor the protocols of the Norwegian trial.
Zamir told the New York Times in 1984 that the version of events in "Vengeance" was "not true" but did not elaborate. While standing by his source, Jonas admitted that "certain details of the story were incapable of being verified".
Jonas's agent Linda McKnight told the Wall Street Journal last year that Universal Pictures, which is co-producing the film with Spielberg's Dreamworks, had exercised an option to make a movie based on the book.
I wrote off Speilberg when he felt he needed to remove guns from the hands of the military in his ET revision.
That wasn't the military.
Because the Nazis were at war with there Hero, Stalin, as well as the US, UK, and France. WWII was a just war to the libs because socialism needed to survive.
Thanks for post. And Hollywood film makers can't seem to figure out why their revenue is dropping. Crap like this from Spielberg is not the only reason, but is certainly a factor. Most Americans know that it's militant muslims doing the barbaric acts all over the world and when a Hollywood bigwig caters to these killers, it dampens one's enthusiasm for paying 8-9 bucks a head.
"Keep this in mind when you shell out $9 to see "War of the Worlds". Personally, I boycotted Spielberg long ago..."
DITTO
Ughhh. To the Libs 9/11 is an equivalent tit-for-tat killings by the US as well. Rove is so right.
So now Spielberg is a Stalinist? The Indy films are some of the most blatantly pro American heroism films ever made.
A lot of this story was covered in the 1980's movie "Sword of Gideon".
Sometimes you can still find this at Blockbuster or maybe rent it thru Netflix.
Uum, to Jewish people, WW2 was something else entirely regardless of politics. What a callow statment.
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Same here. So many really good low budget films come out every year that I spend my time and cash looking for small jewels not big budget flops. For instance, years back Dracula II, Ascension just knocked my socks off. July 12th, part 3, Dracula III, Legacy will hit the store shelves. For movie lovers, I'd bet either of these films would pack greater punch than any Spielberg big budget Tom Cruise "epic." I'll stick with small stuff. |
This movie hasn't gone into production yet. I sincerely doubt SS is going to make a film sympathetic to the 1972 terrorists considering how active he is in Pro Jewish causes.
According to Amazon, it's based on the same book. It might be interesting to compare the 2 treatments.
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