First he tackled the Holocaust, courting controversy but then silencing many of his critics with a masterpiece of cinema in the form of Schindler’s List.
Now director Steven Spielberg is taking on another Jewish issue, with a film on the aftermath of the massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics.
Production has already started on the film — still untitled — that chronicles a bloody series of assassinations carried out by Israeli secret agents against the Palestinian terrorists responsible for the 1972 killings.
The incident is one of the most controversial issues in modern Israeli and Jewish history. The series of assassinations ended in scandal when it was revealed that Mossad agents had murdered an innocent Moroccan waiter in Norway after a case of mistaken identity.
Spielberg’s project has been shrouded in secrecy, mindful of the dangerous territory the film will touch on and nervous of being seen either to condone or condemn the Israeli action. In a carefully worded statement released by his studio last week, Spielberg said the film will look at ”a defining moment in the modern history of the Middle East”.
He said he will seek to humanise the bloody events.
”Viewing Israel’s response to Munich through the eyes of the men who were sent to avenge that tragedy adds a human dimension to a horrific episode that we usually think about only in political or military terms,” he said.
The film will begin with the terrorist attacks. Though German police persuaded the Palestinian terrorists out of the Olympic village, a shoot-out at an airport resulted in the death of all 11 athletes, one police officer and five of the eight terrorists.
The main plot of the film then follows the vengeful Mossad teams as they track down members of Black September and eliminate them, one by one. But as the assassinations continue, some of the characters develop doubts about their mission and the moral quagmire of revenge in which they have become trapped.
The movie marks a deliberate step away from the more family-friendly blockbusters that Spielberg has been known for in recent years. Films such as War of the Worlds and Minority Report were special-effects-laden science fiction, while The Terminal was a wholesome drama.
But the film will place Spielberg firmly back on the rocky ground he tackled with Schindler’s List. It will also thrust him into the political spotlight, as the film will be seen to deal with the moral issues of how a country responds to a terrorist attack. There will be obvious parallels with current United States policy towards al-Qaeda terrorists and especially the use of assassinations and torture in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.
Spielberg himself hinted at the inevitable rows that will dog the film from now until its release at the end of the year, just in time for Oscar season.
”By experiencing how the implacable resolve of these men to succeed in their mission slowly gave way to troubling doubts about what they were doing, I think we can learn something important about the tragic stand-off we find ourselves in today,” Spielberg said.
Outrage
Such comments have already outraged some conservative columnists in the US, who see Hollywood as a bastion of liberalism. Debbie Schlussel, a right-wing pundit, has blasted Spielberg for being too soft on terrorism and dubbed the project a ”Stockholm syndrome” movie.
”We don’t need more psychobabble about understanding the terrorists and why they hate us. Who cares why they hate us?” she said.
Certainly the drama of the assassinations will provide rich material for a film. Though Israel has never officially admitted responsibility for the reprisals, a number of books and documentaries have detailed the killings that eventually accounted for 10 Palestinians linked to Black September. The killings included shootings, explosive booby traps and cross-border commando raids.
Spielberg has cast Eric Bana, who starred in Hulk and Troy, as the lead Israeli assassin. Other actors involved include Geoffrey Rush and British star Daniel Craig.
Mindful of the sensitivity of the project, Spielberg has spared no effort in seeking advice about how to handle it. He has sought counsel from his rabbi and used former American diplomat Dennis Ross as a link to the Israeli government. He has even shown the script to former US president Bill Clinton, who was involved in US Middle East policy in the 1990s.
The debate about the movie will remind many film experts of the furore that initially surrounded Spielberg’s decision to make a film about the Holocaust.
At the time, Spielberg was known mainly as the maker of popular hits such as Jaws, ET and the Indiana Jones films. Many critics were unsure of his ability to tackle such a sensitive subject. But Schindler’s List was a huge critical and popular hit and earned Spielberg a vast amount of prestige among Jewish groups.
Spielberg then cemented his reputation with his continuing work for the Shoah Foundation, which is dedicated to preserving the testimonies of concentration-camp survivors. — Guardian Unlimited Â