Munich
Munich.
In 1998 I visited Munich, Germany while travelling Europe as a starry-eyed teenager. I remember getting off the train and not knowing where I was going just yet, so I wandered around the station looking for a map, a sandwich, and perhaps someone to talk to. I went upstairs to this balcony which overlooked the entire breadth of the station, over all the trains coming in, going out; I watched as 2 approached at about the same time, on opposite sides of the stations. both appeared to be shaking and shuddering as they slowed to a halt, and as the doors opened, HUNDREDS of drunk soccer fans piled out, each from their own train, one side wearing green, the other wearing red. They walked out to the main concourse, each chanting their team chant - until they heard the competing chants from the other side. I looked left - green team, angry and storming towards team red, also advancing. In the middle, 3 hapless DeutchBahn security officers and 2 cops. 5 vs. 500. They started yelling, butting chests, screaming what i assume was "we're gonna win today" or something of the sort, probably a little more crass. But nobody was fighting - just taunting, jeering, teasing.
While this was all transpiring, I looked to my right and standing beside me was a crew of three gutter punks, all with spiky hair and dirty clothes, reeking of booze, watching this happen below, and the closest one to me suddenly looked at me, looked at my sandwich and just said, "yum yum". He grabbed my sandwich, took a huge bite, and then THROWS the sandwich at the mob below. It lands directly in cop-zone. All eyes on us. He screams, "FUCK MARX! FUCK HITLER! THERE IS ONLY VICTORY!!!!", turns around, gives me this cryptic, uncomfortable smile, and proceeds to barf my sandwich bite (and much, much more) over the floor of the balcony. The cops below look at eachother and start running towards the stairs. The punks do the same...I guess they escaped, because the 2 cops came running up towards me, nearly slipping on the puddle of puke at my feet; yelling at me in German, they are pointing to the puke and sandwich, etc...I dont know what to tell them, so I just turn around and show them my Canadian flag on my backpack. "Sprechen nein Deutch", ('speak no german', literally) I stammer...they all look at me skeptically, and realize I'm just a bystander. They have other people to deal with.
The time in Bavaria was fun. I stayed at this hippy hostel that night and befriended an evangelical christian punk(?) from South Africa and a quasi-queer photo student from Hong Kong - we visited the castle of crazy king Ludwig in Fussel, built above Swan Lake (yep, that swan lake), and went to Dachau concentration camp the next day...it was horrifying, cathartic, emotional and cold. I saw torture 'labs', gas chambers, residence blocks, and of course, this:
Work Equals Freedom.
...which is where this blog was *supposed* to start - I saw the movie "Munich" last night; I'm full of conflicting emotions about it. As a jew, we're brought up with extreme conciousness of the past as it is related to our future - the whole idea of BIRTHRIGHT and HOMELAND really...irks me. I've never been a zionist, nor have my parents. But this movie made me realize the interests at stake in consideration of a jewish state...the cost in human lives just seems to be a case of the ends NOT justifying the means - erg...this isnt what I mean.
What I mean to say is what I'm sure the movie wants me to think - violence begets violence, terrorism is in the eye of the beholder, the hunted become the hunters, etc etc...but I didn't LIKE the movie - I thought it was overly violent, with unnecessary shots, bullet wounds, and the final scene seriously pissed me off. It just left a bad taste in my mouth about my identity as a jew. I can see any non-jew coming out of that film thinking, "oh, so Isreal is right to occupy and torture and murder...but those Arabs do it so...illegally! how dare they?". And on the flipside, any self-righteous zionist would see it as a three-hour justification of anything they've ever felt; that the violence of protection is blessed by god, that their homeland isn't just legal, it's god-given. That anything against those orders is terror; that arabs are animals. It sickens me that Speilberg thinks it was his duty to paint a drama around such tradegdy.
Whatever, he still gets paid.
In the end, I still don't know what to think. Yes, "we" are a historically oppressed people, but WHEN do the ends justify means, and when and where do we draw the line? When "work equals freedom"? FOR WHO? FOR WHAT? WHO IS FREE, AND AT WHAT COST? HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
erg. I'm grumpy now.
In 1998 I visited Munich, Germany while travelling Europe as a starry-eyed teenager. I remember getting off the train and not knowing where I was going just yet, so I wandered around the station looking for a map, a sandwich, and perhaps someone to talk to. I went upstairs to this balcony which overlooked the entire breadth of the station, over all the trains coming in, going out; I watched as 2 approached at about the same time, on opposite sides of the stations. both appeared to be shaking and shuddering as they slowed to a halt, and as the doors opened, HUNDREDS of drunk soccer fans piled out, each from their own train, one side wearing green, the other wearing red. They walked out to the main concourse, each chanting their team chant - until they heard the competing chants from the other side. I looked left - green team, angry and storming towards team red, also advancing. In the middle, 3 hapless DeutchBahn security officers and 2 cops. 5 vs. 500. They started yelling, butting chests, screaming what i assume was "we're gonna win today" or something of the sort, probably a little more crass. But nobody was fighting - just taunting, jeering, teasing.
While this was all transpiring, I looked to my right and standing beside me was a crew of three gutter punks, all with spiky hair and dirty clothes, reeking of booze, watching this happen below, and the closest one to me suddenly looked at me, looked at my sandwich and just said, "yum yum". He grabbed my sandwich, took a huge bite, and then THROWS the sandwich at the mob below. It lands directly in cop-zone. All eyes on us. He screams, "FUCK MARX! FUCK HITLER! THERE IS ONLY VICTORY!!!!", turns around, gives me this cryptic, uncomfortable smile, and proceeds to barf my sandwich bite (and much, much more) over the floor of the balcony. The cops below look at eachother and start running towards the stairs. The punks do the same...I guess they escaped, because the 2 cops came running up towards me, nearly slipping on the puddle of puke at my feet; yelling at me in German, they are pointing to the puke and sandwich, etc...I dont know what to tell them, so I just turn around and show them my Canadian flag on my backpack. "Sprechen nein Deutch", ('speak no german', literally) I stammer...they all look at me skeptically, and realize I'm just a bystander. They have other people to deal with.
The time in Bavaria was fun. I stayed at this hippy hostel that night and befriended an evangelical christian punk(?) from South Africa and a quasi-queer photo student from Hong Kong - we visited the castle of crazy king Ludwig in Fussel, built above Swan Lake (yep, that swan lake), and went to Dachau concentration camp the next day...it was horrifying, cathartic, emotional and cold. I saw torture 'labs', gas chambers, residence blocks, and of course, this:
Work Equals Freedom.
...which is where this blog was *supposed* to start - I saw the movie "Munich" last night; I'm full of conflicting emotions about it. As a jew, we're brought up with extreme conciousness of the past as it is related to our future - the whole idea of BIRTHRIGHT and HOMELAND really...irks me. I've never been a zionist, nor have my parents. But this movie made me realize the interests at stake in consideration of a jewish state...the cost in human lives just seems to be a case of the ends NOT justifying the means - erg...this isnt what I mean.
What I mean to say is what I'm sure the movie wants me to think - violence begets violence, terrorism is in the eye of the beholder, the hunted become the hunters, etc etc...but I didn't LIKE the movie - I thought it was overly violent, with unnecessary shots, bullet wounds, and the final scene seriously pissed me off. It just left a bad taste in my mouth about my identity as a jew. I can see any non-jew coming out of that film thinking, "oh, so Isreal is right to occupy and torture and murder...but those Arabs do it so...illegally! how dare they?". And on the flipside, any self-righteous zionist would see it as a three-hour justification of anything they've ever felt; that the violence of protection is blessed by god, that their homeland isn't just legal, it's god-given. That anything against those orders is terror; that arabs are animals. It sickens me that Speilberg thinks it was his duty to paint a drama around such tradegdy.
Whatever, he still gets paid.
In the end, I still don't know what to think. Yes, "we" are a historically oppressed people, but WHEN do the ends justify means, and when and where do we draw the line? When "work equals freedom"? FOR WHO? FOR WHAT? WHO IS FREE, AND AT WHAT COST? HOW MUCH IS TOO MUCH?
erg. I'm grumpy now.
posted by Eli at 8:41 AM
4 Comments:
i read that the original writer of the storey/book/interpretation of original events is not overly happy with mr. spielbergs take on his book.
so. he prolly feels the same as you with the extremes the movie was taken. but i don't know either. just something i thought when i read yer bloggie.
first-i fucking LOVE those castles that ludwig built! such excesses always make me smile. if i were insanely rich and insanely... insane i'd do the EXACT same thing.
not the point.
i haven't seen munich yet so i can't comment of whether or not i agree or disagree with you. i think the thing that's (possibly) unfortunate about this movie is that because it's a major hollywood picture, released to A LOT of hype and directed by spielberg people will see this as being capital T true. i think that the majority of people just want to be entertained by movies so they take what they see on screen as being real, especially when it's 'based on a true events'(or directed by spielberg)and don't ask the questions you're asking: does violence beget violence? what defines terrorism? etc...
that's a crass generalization i realise but we expose ourselves to so much stuff that we should walk away thinking about but we just let most of it wash off our backs. there are questions that should be asked of films and of filmmakers that mainstream media (which is where the majortity of people rely) will not touch. entertainment tonight doesn't care about questions of identity or violence they just care whether eric bana had to gain or lose weight to do this movie and whether or not he's married.
where am i going with this? i have no idea. your post just got me thinking about the way people watch movies, especially movies about true events' and if/how we allow them to affect us.
sorry that was so long.
psst. eli.
hey, remember me? think of high school, thursday nights at rebar, hanging out at you & greg's old place... yeah, hopefully it's coming back. anyway, the point is i wanted to say hi and how are you and i'd love to catch up with you. i'm feeling all nostalgic these days and i came upon you on this here interestingnet. anyway, you should email me if you at all share this impulse to say hello: dramatique at gmail dot com.
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