MUNICH: A 2005 FILM RELEVANT TO THE WORLD TODAY

Munich

A 2005 film from Stephen Spielberg.

In 1972 Black September, a terrorist Arab organization of the PLO took Israeli athletes hostage at the Olympic village in Germany. Eventually eleven hostages were murdered.

The film is a dramatic film, which studies and illuminates issues of retribution and unintended consequences in a world of conflict. In a special feature included on the rental DVD, Spielberg points out that while certain facts form the basis of the film, “Munich” is not a documentary.

The film has particular relevance to today’s war between Israel and Hamas. It is an intense, agonizing piece that looks inside the people tasked with finding and eliminating the Black September Arabs who murdered the Israeli hostages.

The film  came in for some criticism when it was originally released but Producer Spielberg points out that certain facts are indisputable: Hostages were taken by Black September and eleven were killed. Prime Minister Golda Meir authorized a team to find and kill the original perpetrators. That mission was successful.

“Munich,” is an excellent thriller, well worth watching with fine acting, rich production and stems from a finely researched and written script.

I read in the local newspaper to which I subscribe, about one of the Republican party candidates for governor here in Minnesota. Like so many conservatives, he echoed the knee-jerk line that we need more local enterprise and less government because government doesn't create jobs, only local investment does. That attitude disses the contributions of thousands of federal state and local government employees.

Here's a family I know about. Both wife and husband worked for the state for more than 25 years. Each. Filling jobs created by state agencies. Let’s just ignore the value of their work output. They raised 2 children who went to public schools. They paid income taxes, school taxes, real estate taxes, city assessments for streets and water and they paid excise taxes. They bought clothes, food, toys, and other stuff from local businesses and they saved money to invest in sound stocks and a pension plan. They bought insurance and cars. It sounds like a regular American family, right? So where do some politicians get off claiming that family didn't contribute to the American economy because "government doesn't create jobs?"

Folks that is a flat out lie. Without government there would be no economy. So-called small businessmen, the ones making 2-3 mil annually, make that money by selling goods and services to the people of the community which includes government workers at the federal, state, county and local levels. Candidates who tell you that government is bad for you and doesn't create jobs are lying to you and they should never be elected to public office.