In complete seriousness, I have to say that I hated Munich. I hated it. I toyed with just saying that I didn't care for it, it isn't my thing, whatever. I hated this movie. It made me angry--still makes me angry just thinking about it.
On the filmmaking side, I found it totally boring having absolutely no one to root for the whole film. On the political side of things (and the film is inextricably political in nature--not a bad thing: see Good Night, and Good Luck., Gangs of New York, etc.) I am infuriated. Not only does Spielberg refuse to take sides in the Palestine/Israel conflict, he chooses to idealize both groups and then dehumanize both groups. Instead, the most heroic character in the film is the character who doesn't kill for family or misplaced Nationalism, but for money. It is Capitalism that comes out as king in Munich. And I'm supposed to feel--what?--for the lead character, Eric Bana's "Avner."? What am I supposed to feel for this man: the butcher with the heart of gold? Was he justified? I don't even know or care because I feel like the amount of information that I absorbed during Munich was negligible.
Munich, in fact, doesn't have anything serious to say at all. Spielberg refuses to be serious. Munich is filled to the brim with little jokes and half-assed suspense sequences (the reason I hate Spielberg to begin with). There's no point in investing in a suspense sequence with this man. You were worrying for nothing. That Zyklon B Embeth Davitz is about to inhale is only water. Don't worry. Don't fret: the little girl in the trailer for Munich who answers the phone--you remember the one--she won't die. It's a fake out. The same old fakeout we're used to seeing in Spielberg's movies. And that's all Munich is: a fakeout for something of substance.
No comments:
Post a Comment