The Best Movie About Israel and Gaza Now Came Out 18 Years Ago
By Lisa Schwarzbaum
As I’ve been looking to better comprehend the current moment in the Middle East, the best film I have found is one that came out on Dec. 23, 2005. I’m talking about “Munich,” one of Steven Spielberg’s bleakest, most adult dramas, which — despite five Oscar nominations — was largely considered a misfire when it was released. Today, though, “Munich” reverberates with deep meaning and gravitas. Rewatching the film in this moment reminds us that art can sometimes prick the conscience where hours of political commentary only deaden and that historically based movies are never only about the period in which the story is set or even when the work was made. Movies morph and shift constantly, offering new insights and solaces in relation to the time in which we watch them...
When the film version was released, I praised it, along with many other critics at the time. The action is masterly, signature Spielberg, and the casting is also reflexively Hollywood, with all those handsome movie-star gentiles playing Jews — including the Australian actor Eric Bana as the lead agent, code-named Avner — and with Ciaran Hinds and a pre-James Bond Daniel Craig as Mossad operatives. The screenplay is credited to Eric Roth and the eminent Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning playwright Tony Kushner. It was Mr. Kushner’s first screenplay for Mr. Spielberg and the beginning of a collaboration with the director that continues. The result: During pauses between sleek action sequences, the tough agents ruminate with Kushnerian eloquence on the toll that this cycle of historically entrenched violence and revenge is taking on their souls.
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/23/opinion/israel-gaza-munich.html
https://actualnewsagency.com/the-best-movie-about-israel-and-gaza-now-came-out-18-years-ago/
https://www.almendron.com/tribuna/the-best-movie-about-israel-and-gaza-now-came-out-18-years-ago/