'munich'

munich typifies everything that goes wrong when hollywood decides to go serious on us. a serious issue- in this case terror and counter-terrorism regarding the israel-palestine conflict- becomes fodder for a revenge action drama. a central hero character is our way into the narrative as he and his group of carefully designed eccentrics murder the alleged masterminds of the munich murders. then of course, as it is politically correct to do, you try and see the ‘other’ point of view by ‘humanizing’ whom you have already demonized. you give them wives and children; make them neighbours and friends. the dialogue is filled with quasi-philosophical ramblings that purport to meditate on the larger issues of identity and nationhood. the words fall like stones- because nobody speaks like that in real life. its all very arch and pretentious. but i don’t think any serious film has sunk lower than when speilberg intercuts a marital sex scene with the explosions of helicopters and the rattle of machine gun fire; all with a overbearing theme music soaring in the background. the murders and the sex climaxes at the same time. and then the wife whispers “i love you” in her killer husbands ears. its unintentionally hilarious and truly stupid- but the only place where speilberg manages something ‘original’.