Paris Cinéma

Munich Film

A few days ago I went to see the film, Munich. It was my 2nd time seeing this movie but still found it as dramatic and emotionally difficult to watch as the first time. The movie was in English but with French subtitles. The subtitles helped me practice my French. Its funny how the little differences stand out between different cultures. In a French movie theatre, there are many more commercials than you have in the United States and they're for everything from cars to food. I also noticed how French people are much more reserved, ie. respectful when watching a movie than Americans. Maybe it was partly due to the serious subject matter, but nevertheless made the movie more enjoyable to watch without listening to people applaud or comment after watching scenes they enjoyed. One last thing I noticed was that even in a serious
movie such as Munich, there were occasional jokes in the movie, but nobody in the theatre laughed. Maybe that was due to the language barrier or perhaps its the French lacking a sense of humor. I know these are trivial differences between cultures, but again they were just things that I noticed.

Regarding the movie, I'll try not to go off on too long of a tangent. I'm not going to explain the story behind the movie, because its common knowledge and widely available online. I loved the way the film was shot by Spielberg. It was very authentic regarding the props and set he used. I think the perspective it was told from could best be described as apolitical. A friend who saw the movie with our group remarked afterwards that he enjoyed it because it wasn't Pro-Israeli or Pro-Palestinian. It just tells the story of the Munich events and lets the viewer judge for him/herself what they think about the story.

The movie raises a lot of moral and philosophical questions about terrorism and the pursuit of people who engage in it. I'm not going to stand here and claim I have all the answers. I just have my opinions. I think its important to mention that the film was INSPIRED by real events but not meant to be seen as a documentary. Not everything that occured in the movie was historically accurate, so people should not view the movie as a history lesson. That being said, Spielberg was criticized a lot for how he chose to tell the story. Here's an excerpt from an interview he gave recently.

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Spielberg, 59, told German news weekly Der Spiegel that "Munich" aims to reclaim the debate about the moral costs of the struggle against terror from "extremists" and engage moderate forces in the West and the Middle East.

"But it does not excuse the act when you ask what the motives of the perpetrators were and show that they were also individuals with families and a history.... Understanding does not mean forgiving. Understanding does not mean being soft, it is a courageous and strong stance."
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For an excellent review of the film check out this NY Times article:

Munich Review