{"id":6804,"date":"2005-12-27T13:30:00","date_gmt":"2005-12-27T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/doxaweb.com\/blog\/?p=6804"},"modified":"2021-10-17T09:56:58","modified_gmt":"2021-10-17T14:56:58","slug":"munich","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doxaweb.com\/blog\/2005\/12\/27\/munich\/","title":{"rendered":"Munich"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I will certainly think twice before seeing the next Spielberg film. War of the Worlds<\/strong><\/a><\/em> was a nihilistic film, and Munich<\/strong><\/a><\/em> isn’t much better. Sure, there are a few scenes with talking heads that are thoughtful, but do we really need two-and-a-half hours of closeups of gunshot wounds, spattered blood, gushing aortas and naked corpses before we are convinced that violence is a bad idea?

The premise of the film is that vengeance is inhumane, even when it is conducted by Jews. I’m fine with that premise, but my question is: is Spielberg really interested in humane filmmaking? If he was, he would have stopped making films a while ago, because this film is, like War of the Worlds<\/em>, inhumane in its own way: Munich<\/em> is self-indulgent, overlong, and indefensibly gratuitous in its on-screen violence. Once again, we have characters who are poorly motivated and who are simultaneously wicked and civilized in ways that reflect a dualistic \/ schizophrenic vision of humanity, rather than one that sees human beings as fallen but capable of true heroism. Example: the main character’s source of information in carrying out vengeance against the Arab terrorists is a man who we discover is the ultimate relativist \u2013 he’ll sell information to anyone \u2013 but is at the same time a ‘devout’ Catholic who insists on saying grace before meals. Are we supposed to believe this character without at least some kind of backstory? I don’t know, but one thing is certain: Spielberg’s anthropology is incredibly pessimistic and disjointed. His vision is one that doesn’t leave room for grace. Indeed, in an a<\/strong><\/a>rticle<\/strong><\/a> about Munich<\/em> in Time<\/em> magazine, Spielberg has this to say about the future of Middle Eastern peace: “The only thing that’s going to solve [the Middle Eastern situation] is rational minds, a lot of sitting down and talking until you’re blue in the face.” And that hasn’t been tried already?

Does a director with no one to challenge his willfulness necessarily become Neitzsche-esque? Consider these quotations from the Time<\/em> interview<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve never, ever made a movie where I said I’m making this picture because the message can do some good for the world \u2013 even when I made Schindler’s List<\/em>\u2026. I made the picture out of just pure wanting to get that story told\u2026.<\/p>

I’m lucky at this point in my career that I can make the movies I want to make without having a studio come in and second-guess me. I always say thank goodness for Jaws<\/em>, because Jaws<\/em> gave me final cut. I’ve had it now for 30 years, and because of that I only have myself to blame for anything that goes wrong.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

That last quote sounds humble enough, but the corollary is that if anything goes right, he’ll take credit, which I think is a very limited understanding of what is a supremely collaborative art form.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At any rate, Munich<\/em> was a bomb. I’m going to see Kong<\/em> next, which promises to be a more thoughtful film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are a few scenes with talking heads that are thoughtful, but do we really need two-and-a-half hours of closeups of gunshot wounds, spattered blood, gushing aortas and naked corpses before we are convinced that violence is a bad idea?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6809,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[89,19,33,34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","category-entertainment","category-moral-life","category-movie-reviews"],"yoast_head":"\nMunich – doxaweb<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/doxaweb.com\/blog\/2005\/12\/27\/munich\/\" \/>\n<meta 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