'Munich' Upsets Conservative Hawks.

When a movie takes some heat from both sides of the issue it is dealing with, one should at least start paying attention. This is definitely the case with Steven Spielberg's latest movie, Munich - the story of the track of the Palestinian terrorists who assassinated Israeli athletes during the Olympic Games of 1972 in Munich by a Mossad agent. Spielberg is accused of pandering to the enemy by one side (here), and of the so-called “sin of equivalence” because it depicts wrongs committed on both sides (and so it "rationalizes terrorism") by the other side (here). Which side accuses him of what is easy to figure out. Thankfully, there are also some good reviews from both sides (here and here).

It takes courage to even tackle such a hot issue in this day and age and for that alone, we should give Mr Spielberg some credit. His movie also helps clarify the differences between conservatives and the rest of us over the issue of "war on terror". The fact that it has been heavily criticized by American conservative papers (here) and blogs (here) is something I greatly appreciate. What has upset the conservatives is that the movie seems to show the moral ambiguity of the situation and the complexity of the whole issue as the movie also denounces what leads to an endless cycle of violence. Understandibly, this is something foreign to the binary minds of Hawkish conservatives and of those who buy into their views out of laziness and fear.

Note: Munich was released in the US on Dec. 23rd and will be out in France on... Jan. 25.