TV Times

TV Times

‘Munich’ moves to Majestic
By Susitha R. Fernando
Five Academy Awards nominated Steven Spielberg’s ‘Munich’ will be released in Sri Lankan theatres next month following possible Oscar wins.
The Ceylon Theatres one of the leading film importers in Sri Lanka, has made arrangements to bring down the film that had already become a hit throughout the world.

‘An historical thriller set in the aftermath of the 1972 massacre of 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics will be released in Sri Lankan theatres hopefully once it wins some Academy awards’ Thusitha de Alwis, the Publicity Officer for Ceylon Theatre said.

‘The film is not yet released in Hong Kong and India and once it is released there we would be able to purchase it’ added Mr. Alwis. In ‘Munich’, Steven Spielberg, who won his first Oscar for the Holocaust drama “Schindler’s List,” has taken on another tragic moment in modern Jewish history as his next project — the 1972 Munich Olympics.

During the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, eleven Israeli athletes are taken hostage and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist group known as Black September. In retaliation, the Israeli government recruits a group of Mossad agents to track down and execute those responsible for the attack. Inspired by actual events, the narrative is based on a number of sources, including the recollections of some who participated in the events themselves. “Munich” recounts the dramatic story of the secret Israeli squad assigned to track down and assassinate 11 Palestinians believed to have planned the 1972 Munich massacre - and the personal toll this mission of revenge takes on the team and the man who led it. Eric Bana stars as the Mossad agent charged with leading the band of specialists brought together for this operation.

The film is nominated for the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing and the Best Original Score. In addition Munich also is nominated for two Golden Globe awards- the Best Picture and the Best Screen Play.

Director Steven Spielberg has called his ‘Inspired by Real Events’ story of the hunt for the perpetrators of the Munich massacre of Israeli athletes a ‘prayer for peace’, but by choosing to focus his story so heavily on one side, he inadvertently imbues only that side with human characteristics.
The Palestinian perspective is never properly presented, and the overwhelming effect of such a one-sided retelling is that one is manipulated into choosing. His attempt to edify thus fails.

The cast include Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciarán Hinds, Geoffrey Rush, Mathieu Kassovitz, Roy Avigdori, Ziad Adwan, Sam Feuer, Haguy Wigdor, Marie-Josée Croze, Ayelet Zorer, Jean Smart, Lynn Cohen, Assi Cohen, Ossie Beck, Sharon Alexander, Dov Reiser, Kurt Russell and Rana Varbin.
Ben Kingsley was attached to the project but had to bow out due to scheduling conflicts. What was going to be his role was ultimately played by Geoffrey Rush.

A crew truck imported from Germany and laden with heavy equipment, mysteriously caught fire during shooting in Malta, sparking fears of a possible terrorist attack. Local police attributed the fire to generators overheating due to the heat of the Maltese summer.

Tony Kushner, writer of the brilliant ‘Angels In America’ and Eric Roth adapted the script from George Jonas’ book “Vengeance”, and together with Spielberg have created a wonderfully gripping film that is olso serious at the same time.
Tony Kushner first declined to co-write the screenplay; he felt it was too controversial and too complicated to be his first screenplay for a feature film.

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