Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Seeing Terrorism as Drama With Sequels and Prequels
The New York Times ^ | December 26, 2005 | EDWARD ROTHSTEIN

Posted on 12/26/2005 9:37:16 AM PST by l33t

"There's no peace at the end of this," warns Avner, the morally anguished Mossad assassin, as Steven Spielberg's new film, "Munich," draws to a close. And by "this" he means the targeted killings that Israel is said to have begun after 11 of its athletes were murdered at the 1972 Olympics by members of the Palestinian Black September offshoot of Fatah.

But Mr. Spielberg, in collaboration with his screenwriters, Eric Roth and the playwright Tony Kushner, also has a different "this" in mind. The camera pointedly settles on the period's skyline of lower Manhattan, showing the World Trade Center in sharp relief.

The warning and image are meant to suggest that militant attempts to destroy terrorism lead not to peace but to cycles of violence, and that the 9/11 attacks may even be consequences of Israel's response to the Munich massacre. A war on terror amplifies terror. Moreover, the movie teaches, opposing sides begin to resemble each other. Moral credibility is destroyed along with hope.

The same argument is being made now about the war in Iraq, of course, as well as about Israel's continuing responses to terrorism. Indeed, before "Munich" opened, when it was reported that the film would emphasize the ethical qualms of the Mossad assassins, Mr. Spielberg explained, "By experiencing how the implacable resolve of these men to succeed in their mission slowly gave way to troubling doubts about what they were doing, I think we can learn something important about the tragic standoff we find ourselves in today." But can we? Though said to be "inspired by real events," Mr. Spielberg's film taps into a highly influential theory about terrorism that itself bears little relation to what is known about this history.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: israel; moviereview; munich; terror; terrorism
A rarity, a sane New York Times article on terrorism, as the rest of this piece shows.
1 posted on 12/26/2005 9:37:17 AM PST by l33t
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: l33t
It's not peace they were after, it was Justice
2 posted on 12/26/2005 9:39:40 AM PST by txroadhawg ("Stuck on stupid? I invented stupid! " Al Gore)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: l33t

The world is up against demonic death cultist butchers.

The fault is not the jews, but the demonic death cult.


3 posted on 12/26/2005 9:45:08 AM PST by tkathy (Ban the headscarf. (All religious headdress). The effect will creat a huge domino effect..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: l33t
"There's no peace at the end of this," warns Avner, the morally anguished Mossad assassin, as Steven Spielberg's new film, "Munich," draws to a close. And by "this" he means the targeted killings that Israel is said to have begun after 11 of its athletes were murdered at the 1972 Olympics by members of the Palestinian Black September offshoot of Fatah.

But Mr. Spielberg, in collaboration with his screenwriters, Eric Roth and the playwright Tony Kushner, also has a different "this" in mind. The camera pointedly settles on the period's skyline of lower Manhattan, showing the World Trade Center in sharp relief.

As long as sane people speak up, this attempt at rewriting history will fail.

I'm not sure when, exactly, movies were accepted as a valid substitute for reality, hence history, but there is a strong tendency in that direction among the ignorant, and they get to vote.

This dovetails nicely with the "'forgeries' but true" new school of journalism. In the old days, individuals and groups would never attempt outrageous propaganda because they would be a laughing stock and little else. Only governments had the means or the motivation to pull it off.

What's changed?

4 posted on 12/26/2005 9:46:30 AM PST by Publius6961 (The IQ of California voters is about 420........... .............cumulatively)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: l33t
...Connections, a critic's perspective on arts and ideas, appears every other Monday.

So, we can expect balance from the NYT...every other Monday...

5 posted on 12/26/2005 9:50:49 AM PST by aligncare (Watergate killed journalism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: l33t

The Left wanted to trot out this "moral equivalence" claptrap on 9-12, but they had to wait a full year until the rage of the US citizenry abated. There is, and there never will be, a moral equivalence between fanatical sub-human Muslims and the West. There will be peace only after the civilized Muslsims do something about their evil spawn -- or the West is forced to kill them in great numbers until they stand down.


6 posted on 12/26/2005 9:51:40 AM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (De gustibus non est disputandum.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mad_Tom_Rackham
I suggest we just kill them in job lots and have done. The West did not learn that Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.

was a lie until the mass slaughters of WW1 were over. I suggest it will take the same level of death for the Muslims to learn the same lesson.

7 posted on 12/26/2005 9:58:01 AM PST by MNJohnnie (We do not create terrorism by fighting the terrorists. We invite terrorism by ignoring them.--GWBush)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Mad_Tom_Rackham; All

"Though said to be "inspired by real events," Mr. Spielberg's film taps into a highly influential theory about terrorism that itself bears little relation to what is known about this history." I used to have respect for Spielberg as an artist and an observer of humanity. He now seems to have joined the "navel-gazers"


8 posted on 12/26/2005 9:58:53 AM PST by yodi VA (Remember, no matter where you go; there you are.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: l33t

A good read!!


9 posted on 12/26/2005 10:01:15 AM PST by Irish_Thatcherite (~~~A vote for Bertie Ahern is a vote for Gerry Adams!~~~)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961

But Mr. Spielberg, in collaboration with his screenwriters, Eric Roth and the playwright Tony Kushner, also has a different "this" in mind. The camera pointedly settles on the period's skyline of lower Manhattan, showing the World Trade Center in sharp relief.

Oh, I get it. The Israelis were really to blame for 9/11--because the retailiated against what happened at Munich.
So what Mr Kushchner is really saying is that the West should just bend over and take it.


10 posted on 12/26/2005 10:11:00 AM PST by rbg81
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: rbg81
Oh, I get it. The Israelis were really to blame for 9/11--because the retailiated against what happened at Munich. So what Mr Kushchner is really saying is that the West should just bend over and take it.

Well, yes. That's the view of one dumbass, masquerading as an American. Or, in the PC realm, as a normal human being...

11 posted on 12/26/2005 11:48:40 AM PST by Publius6961 (The IQ of California voters is about 420........... .............cumulatively)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: aligncare
So, we can expect balance from the NYT...every other Monday...

... in months ending in 'er'.

12 posted on 12/26/2005 12:29:45 PM PST by 6SJ7
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Publius6961
IMO the only thing the Israelis did wrong after Munich was stop killing the bastards.

L

13 posted on 12/26/2005 12:31:42 PM PST by Lurker (Here comes Santa Claus, here comes Santa Claus...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson