Violence begets greater violence & we all bleed red. Ever since the First World War, the modern chroniclers and story-tellers of the world have been trying to drill this into public conciousness. Since the dawn of History, War and Conflict have always inspired and driven Man to be more than himself. Technology and literature have been the most profoundly affected, of all the spheres in Man’s life. We all know this. Which is why when Spielberg decided to make Munich, everyone sat and took notice. Hollywood’s most powerful man and one of the world’s most prominent Jews, making a second attempt at seriously chronicling Jewish History: Woah!

I walked out of the film in the middle when I first viewed it. The representation of Palestinian accents, fanaticism & pot-bellies, coupled with the hunky Jew with a gorgeous wife & time looped slow-mo shots of Jewish blood & pain left with a bitter taste in the mouth & angry at being considered a fool who could be easily manipulated by the director and screen play.

But as talk of the film’s greatness grew amongst peers, I decided, I needed a thorough viewing before I told people it made me sick.

And it was on the second viewing that I discovered, amongst all the lovely halos behind all of God’s Children (come on! don’t tell me you didnt notice the halos? the one which grows like a sun flare as the camera chages angle and zooms into the pensive faces. The same one which happened behind Zeta Jones & Hanks when they kissed in “Terminal”! Aah! there you go!) & the “day-in-the-life-of’s” Bana & his men, some real scenes & characters. Characters whose names I remember. There was Ali, from the stair-case and gunfight, there was Papa & his butcher hands, there was the amorous couple from the adjoining hotel room. Wait a minute K, do you really owe Spielberg a massive apology? Is he really saying something about the inertia of violence and it’s destructiveness? Is he taking a stand on Palestine?

And then it happened! The sex scene. With the wrong flash-back. And it all unravelled. And I got the distinct feeling of of having sat through perfect craft with a very blurred objective. Why did he make the film again?