november / december 2005:

WINTER MOVIE PREVIEW: steven Spielberg
The greatest filmmaker of our time tackles the Arab-Israeli conflict.

profiles by Benyamin Cohen & Bradford R. Pilcher


How do you get Israeli spies and Palestinian terrorists to agree with each other? You have Steven Spielberg make a movie. No, really.

The latest cinematic concoction from the man who brought us E.T. and Jaws is no fairy tale. Instead, Munich has Spielberg telling the very real, and very raw, story of the 1972 Olympics, where Palestinian terrorists massacred a squad of Israeli athletes. Coming from the director behind Schindler’s List, arguably the finest Holocaust film ever, the subject matter of Munich didn’t raise many red flags.

Read all the winter movie profiles: Sarah Silverman Steven Spielberg Jack Black Amanda Peet Zach Braff Jon Favreau Mel Brooks

Then rumors broke that the film would focus more on the Israeli agents who tracked down and executed the Palestinian perpetrators. Original scribe Eric Roth was dropped and notoriously political playwright -- and uber-lefty -- Tony Kushner was hired to rewrite the script.

Still it wasn’t a full-fledged controversy until word leaked that a now-discredited book, entitled Vengeance, was being used as a source for the film (in fact, that was the original title for the film). Israeli leaders, including an ex-Mossad chief, criticized the book and questioned why Spielberg would reference it.

Finally, to make the whole thing surreal, Mohammad Daoud publicly attacked the film and disparaged Spielberg for not consulting him. Daoud was the planner of the Munich attacks, and he also blasted Vengeance as being full of mistakes.

Spielberg has made some attempts to put out the fires: he’s hired Hollywood crisis communications expert Allan Mayer, and he’s consulted with a host of advisors including his rabbi, former American diplomat and Middle East expert Dennis Ross, and even former president Bill Clinton. His efforts haven’t been entirely successful. The highly secretive director angered locals in Budapest by towing cars parked near his set and siccing the cops on local photographers.

Once the film actually sees theatres (and once sensitive partisans actually see the movie), the whole controversy could abate, but we doubt it. Palestinian sympathizers claim the Israelis targeted people who had nothing to do with the Munich attack. Israeli leaders disagree. Spokespeople for the film have insisted in numerous articles that the film will be sensitive to both sides.

Good luck with that, Steven. You’re going to need it.

Release date: December 23



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