By Adla Massoud in New York
Sunday 01 January 2006,
Steven Spielberg calls Munich his 'prayer for peace'
Munich, Steven Spielberg's long awaited political thriller about targeted assassinations, has generated much controversy within the Jewish community in the US.
Based on a book called Vengeance by Canadian journalist George Jonas, the film opens with black and white television footage taken on 5 September 1972, during the summer Olympic Games in Munich, Germany.
An American newsreader reports on the kidnapping of Israeli Olympic athletes by Palestinian fighters of the Black September group.
Eventually, 11 Israelis, five Palestinians and two German police officers are killed in a shootout.
What happens next never makes the evening news. Golda Meir, then Israeli prime minister, instructs intelligence agents to hunt down and kill surviving perpetrators in Europe.
The film, which Spielberg calls his "prayer for peace", was recently voted one of the 10 best films of 2005 by the American Film Institute.
My comment is a lot of Israeli leaders are heroes to their country and religion and same for Palestinian leaders. Spielberg wants us to look beyond that so we can establish everlasting peace. When Israeli came to the promise land for the Arab it was an act of terrorism. If we have a spirit of understanding it was religiously right for them and geopolitical right after the Nazi atrocities. Spielberg is trying to heal the wounds not to open it. I got his message.
