I saw Munich the other day.
I don't watch many "political" films (at least, the obviously political ones). I think I get too wrapped up in them and find that my opinions and feelings are a little too intense to separate the movie-going experience from the politics of the movie. Either I agree with the movie's point of view, and find myself angered by the things the movie is speaking out against, or I disagree with the movie's POV and I'm angered by that. So it's a no-win situation that I'd just as soon avoid.
I'm not quite sure what I expected when I went to see this one. I'd heard all the positive reviews and critical raves, and bought into all the Spielbergian hype: "Hey, he's doing a serious movie, we'd better take it seriously!"
I cannot explain my reaction, but when I left that movie, I was livid. I've tried for a few days now to reduce my reaction to something definable. It's not the politics of the film, per se. It's not like Spielberg takes a bold stance and says he's 100% behind what took place, or completely opposed to it or anything like that. It's presented in an almost clinical way, with very little judgment intruding into the storytelling. And I have to admire that, because it would be easy to take sides in this story.
And it's not like I'm offended by what takes place in the film. I don't have any particular problem with the notion of killing terrorists. Once you put yourself in the position of killing randomly, you pretty much sacrifice any claims to humane, or even human, treatment. I don't think killing terrorists accomplishes anything, but Speilberg makes that same point in the film, when Bana's character asks what they've accomplished, since each man they've killed has immediately been replaced, usually by someone worse. It's like cockroaches… no matter how many you kill, there are always more crawling out of the woodwork.
I even tried to justify it with my own frustration with today's political situation. Let's face it, the "War on Terror" is simply this kind of foolish "we must have vengeance" type of reaction taken to it's logical extreme. Thirty years later, we've learned nothing when it comes to terrorism and we're making the same foolish mistakes, only on a much grander level. But even that is an intellectual rationalization of a visceral reaction, and it's more an explanation than a reason.
The feeling crept up on me as I watched the film. I had moments of shock and horror… moments that angered and infuriated me… and moments that made me squirmingly uncomfortable. So in terms of moving me, it obviously worked. But by the end, the only thing it moved me to do was get out of the theatre as fast as I possibly could, and want to see something I'd enjoy to get the bad taste out of my head.
It's received a Best Picture nomination now. That's fine. I think it's probably well deserved.
Thanks to it's subject matter, I don't think this is a movie you can "like", however. I think it's one you can admire. Or respect. Or, if you're like me, perhaps loathe with the heat of a thousand suns.
I think I'll take the "safe" route and root for Brokeback Mountain.
I don't watch many "political" films (at least, the obviously political ones). I think I get too wrapped up in them and find that my opinions and feelings are a little too intense to separate the movie-going experience from the politics of the movie. Either I agree with the movie's point of view, and find myself angered by the things the movie is speaking out against, or I disagree with the movie's POV and I'm angered by that. So it's a no-win situation that I'd just as soon avoid.
I'm not quite sure what I expected when I went to see this one. I'd heard all the positive reviews and critical raves, and bought into all the Spielbergian hype: "Hey, he's doing a serious movie, we'd better take it seriously!"
I cannot explain my reaction, but when I left that movie, I was livid. I've tried for a few days now to reduce my reaction to something definable. It's not the politics of the film, per se. It's not like Spielberg takes a bold stance and says he's 100% behind what took place, or completely opposed to it or anything like that. It's presented in an almost clinical way, with very little judgment intruding into the storytelling. And I have to admire that, because it would be easy to take sides in this story.
And it's not like I'm offended by what takes place in the film. I don't have any particular problem with the notion of killing terrorists. Once you put yourself in the position of killing randomly, you pretty much sacrifice any claims to humane, or even human, treatment. I don't think killing terrorists accomplishes anything, but Speilberg makes that same point in the film, when Bana's character asks what they've accomplished, since each man they've killed has immediately been replaced, usually by someone worse. It's like cockroaches… no matter how many you kill, there are always more crawling out of the woodwork.
I even tried to justify it with my own frustration with today's political situation. Let's face it, the "War on Terror" is simply this kind of foolish "we must have vengeance" type of reaction taken to it's logical extreme. Thirty years later, we've learned nothing when it comes to terrorism and we're making the same foolish mistakes, only on a much grander level. But even that is an intellectual rationalization of a visceral reaction, and it's more an explanation than a reason.
The feeling crept up on me as I watched the film. I had moments of shock and horror… moments that angered and infuriated me… and moments that made me squirmingly uncomfortable. So in terms of moving me, it obviously worked. But by the end, the only thing it moved me to do was get out of the theatre as fast as I possibly could, and want to see something I'd enjoy to get the bad taste out of my head.
It's received a Best Picture nomination now. That's fine. I think it's probably well deserved.
Thanks to it's subject matter, I don't think this is a movie you can "like", however. I think it's one you can admire. Or respect. Or, if you're like me, perhaps loathe with the heat of a thousand suns.
I think I'll take the "safe" route and root for Brokeback Mountain.
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