Terror and the lessons of Munich
| Opinion | Friday, June 16, 2006 |
The issue: Fighting violence with violence
Our view: We cannot compromise our way of life under the guise of saving it.
In the spaces between Steven Spielberg's action sequences and dramatic turns in the 2005 film “Munich,” we can peer deeply into the dark history of not only the origins of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but of our own struggle against the evil of terrorism.
It is more than metaphor.
We see in the sublime clarity afforded by history how violence begets violence: How Israel's policy over the past few decades of hitting Palestinians harder with each terrorist attack forced its people to compromise once-cherished democratic values. Then, and only then, did Israel's inherently just cause veer sharply from its moral underpinnings - a cauldron America chose to avoid when, during that same era, its government and people decided once and for all it wasn't in our best long-term interests to assassinate other leaders, no matter how onerous or evil.
“We are supposed to be righteous,” says the character, Robert, in “Munich.” “That's a beautiful thing. And we're losing it. If I lose that, that's everything. That's my soul.”
And what of our nation's soul?
In the midst of more Guantanamo embarrassments, discussion of scrapping the Geneva Conventions and the bizarre parading of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's lifeless body before the cameras last week, perhaps we need to take a deep breath and consider whether we're willing to sacrifice our way of life in order to save it.
Once the Bush administration stopped dancing on al-Zarqawi's grave and broadcasting his ghastly face around the world - a sight sure to encourage moderate Arabs the world over to convert to Christianity - the big win gained perspective.
Too predictably, a successor was swiftly named by al-Qaeda in Iraq, which it is germain to note, didn't exist before the U.S. invasion. He may have been especially evil and media-savvy, but increasingly it looks as if al-Zarqawi is the latest in a long line of terror suspects whose capture was hailed as a major turning point.
“We can't afford to be decent anymore,” says the character Avena in “Munich,” who, nonetheless, eventually concedes it isn't an end to war he's after, but the annihilation of an enemy.
Have we learned nothing from the Arab-Israeli conflict? Only, it seems, how to replicate its bloody, one-dimensional approach to the insidious threat of terror.
No doubt we need to aggressively fight terrorism on all fronts, wherever it lurks, and the use of military force is central to that. But this is a war that will never be won in the conventional sense, and certainly we will not prevail by driving Humvees around the desert; as culturally ambivalent Western occupiers fighting a grass-roots insurgency.
If ever we hope to be a credible force to “spread liberty and freedom,” we have no choice then but to remain righteous and decent.
As Americans, not political partisans, we have to resist with every breath the angry desire collectively and individually, to bend and twist our national sense of what's right and wrong to fit our short-term goals, and to exchange our national soul for the false promise of security; or some definitive end to the seemingly endless“global war on terror.”
“That is our tragedy: butchers' hands and gentle souls,” says one of Spielberg's Israeli assassins.
It could be ours, too.
| Wormhole Steven |
Steven Spielberg made his name directing science fiction fantasy, and though he’s got his biggest accolades for stories based on real world events like Munich, he’s never stepped away from the genres. One of these days maybe he’ll get around to directing another Indiana Jones, but until then Steven’s going to spend some time toying around with outer space wormholes. Variety reports that Spielberg is developing a space travel story about a group of explorers dropped through a wormhole and into an alternate dimension. The idea is supposed to be anchored in real (yet completely theoretical) science, based on a treatment by a Caltech physicist named Kip S. Thorne. Thorne is a guy who came up with a theory that says wormholes can be used for time travel. It’s a theory… because no one has ever actually even seen a wormhole let alone time traveled through one. But I’m sure the math is breathtaking.
Don’t worry Indy fans, this won’t be Steven’s next directorial gig. He’s just developing this one, and then making lots of cash off it when it’s a hit. His directing schedule is still open, leaving him free to taunt you with the possibility of more whip cracking adventure movies that will never happen as long as Harrison Ford is still alive and kicking. Spielberg’s people say his next job will absolutely be Indiana Jones 4… or some other movie about Abraham Lincoln. Whoops. I’m putting my money on honest Abe.
| Spielberg to helm sci-fi film By JAM! Movies |  |  |  |
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| Steven Spielberg (AP file photo) |
Steven Spielberg is going out of this world for his latest film project.
The "Munich" helmer will direct an untitled sci-fi movie that will centre on a group of space explorers who travel through a wormhole and into another dimension, Variety reports.
Spielberg became interested in the real science theory that wormholes can be used as time travel portals when he attended a workshop that discussed the controversial theory.
Since the project will take several years to develop, Spielberg will keep himself busy by helming the fourth installment of "Indiana Jones," and taking the reins of an Abraham Lincoln biopic starring Liam Neeson.
Steven Spielberg |  Pay $332 million Power Rank 6  2005 Rank: 6 E-Score Rank 9 Top Attributes Intelligent, Talented E-Score is a celebrity appeal ranking, comprised of 46 separate personality attributes. E-Score evaluations are provided by E-Poll Market Research, which has a database of more than 2,800 celebrities.
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Director/Producer © Chris McPherson/Corbis Outline | ||||
The highest earner on this year's Celebrity 100 list made the bulk of his income from the sale of DreamWorks SKG's live-action business to Paramount. Add to that back-end profits from "War of the Worlds," the fourth-highest-grossing film last year, with box office receipts of nearly $600 million. Though "Munich" won critical praise, moviegoers generally shunned the controversial flick inspired by the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes. That disappointment may help explain why Spielberg is returning to crowd-pleasers, working up sequels to cinematic favorites "Indiana Jones" and "Jurassic Park." Earnings estimates are for June 2005 to June 2006. Figures rounded off where appropriate. Exact figures available on Forbes.com. Includes dollars earned solely from entertainment income. Management, agent and attorney fees have not been deducted. Estimates by forbes; sources include Billboard, Pollstar, Adams Media Research, Nielsen SoundScan and Nielsen BookScan. Rankings are generated by combining earnings with other metrics: Web mentions on Google press clips compiled by LexisNexis; TV/radio mentions by Factiva; and number of times a celebrity's face appeared on the cover of 26 major consumer magazines. |
