Spielberg Page #16

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and turn on a debate.

Is vengeance the answer?

Does it actually

solve anything?

If you continue

the cycle of violence

and cycle of blood,

then...

that's what they'll be

and nothing else.

Steven was very keen

to tell a human story,

that these were men

and not superheroes.

Their indecision

and their mistakes

and their-- is the reality

of what happened, you know?

Life isn't

a "James Bond" movie.

( chuckles )

Are you--

are you Wael Zwaiter?

He said yes already.

He already said yes.

( speaking Arabic )

What are we doing?

( speaking Arabic )

What do I do?

Do you know

why we're here?

( speaking Arabic )

Hoberman:
In "Munich,"

Spielberg is trying

to come to terms

with the war

against terror.

And he doesn't know

where he is on it.

He's-- he supports it,

but he's also

disturbed by it.

And so,

that's an example

of a kind of thoughtfulness

that goes into his work.

I mean,

he's the Hollywood equivalent

of a public intellectual.

Bana:

I remember when we shot

the telephone bomb sequence.

In that one dolly shot,

you got a complete

sense of the geography

of the entire scene.

Spielberg:

It took three days

to shoot the scene.

Everything had to be

from points of view.

There was the point of view

of the guys in the car.

So now we wait

for the red light.

Spielberg:

There was the point of view

of the man in the phone booth

who was gonna dial

the number.

There was a point of view

of Avner.

It's a triangle

of shots.

Geography

is one of the most

important things to me,

so the audience

isn't thrown into chaos

trying to figure out

the story you're telling.

The audience needs to be

clearer than you.

- Is the truck

blocking the signal?

- No.

Will the remote

still work?

Spielberg:

I can create suspense

if the audience knows

where all the players are,

and they know

what the stakes are,

and they know

that there's a ticking clock.

Like the mom and daughter

that get into the car

and then wind up returning

because she forgot the glasses.

( phone rings )

Spielberg:

The suspense

of that sequence

is letting the audience

know geographically

where everybody is

at all times.

All? All?

All?

( muffled sound )

( siren wailing )

Stop!

( whispering )

Stop, stop. Abort.

Kushner:
You're in the hands

of somebody who will always

show you what you need to see

in order to understand,

on a narrative level,

what's happening.

And you'll also see

a lot of things

that will help you understand

on deeper levels as well.

And that

sort of narrative device

that's in his head

is, you know, I think

almost without precedent.

( phone ringing )

- Oui?

- Man:
Mahmoud Hamshari?

Yes.

( explosion )

Kushner:

We talked a great deal

about the politics

of making a movie

like this.

How do you make a film

that allows

for the possibility

of understanding

why these men who murdered

the athletes

did what they did?

Not in any way

to excuse it,

but to try

and comprehend it.

You kill Jews, and the world

feels bad for them and thinks

you're animals.

Yes, but then

the world will see

how they've made us

into animals.

They'll start

to ask questions

about the conditions

in our cages.

Hoberman:

The movie was perceived

to be suffering

from a sense

of moral equivalence,

which is really

the bravest thing

about the movie.

It's looking

for aspects of humanity

on both sides of this conflict.

Ambiguity is something that

you don't normally associate

with Spielberg's films,

and "Munich" is the film

where he went the furthest

in the bluntness

and the ferocity

with which he approached

that subject.

Did we accomplish

anything at all?

Every man we killed

has been replaced by worse!

Why cut my fingernails?

They'll grow back.

Did we kill to replace

the terrorist leadership

or the Palestinian leadership?

You tell me

what we've done.

You killed them

for the sake of a country

you now choose to abandon.

The end of this film

is not celebratory--

rejoicing in the death

of the enemy.

It is incredibly quiet,

and only

on the second viewing

did I realize

the Twin Towers

are revealed at the end.

Kaminski:

We did several takes

of that scene

without having

that space in the frame,

and then we did one take

with having that space

in the frame,

knowing that he would put

the Towers in.

Steven knew that he's making

a controversial movie.

He just didn't want

to push the boundaries.

But then at the end,

he realized,

"You know what?

I'm already doing it.

Why not just go and say

what I want to say,

you know?"

Spielberg:

I made the choice because

I wanted people to say

"Munich" is the context

for problems that exist

in today's world

and basically

are threatening

to all of us.

You know, history

is its own reminder

of how bad things

can get.

And if we don't

solve these problems,

they accumulate.

And you can't--

there's no rug big enough

to sweep

these problems under.

And eventually,

something is going to happen.

And so, "Munich"

is a prayer for peace,

but peace the hard way.

You know,

peace by discovering

within yourself

your moral high ground.

All my films come

from the part of myself

that I really can't

articulate.

I certainly have

intuitive facilities,

but I don't really analyze those

or don't really question them.

It's like looking

a gift horse in the mouth,

and I'm almost superstitious

that if I start to

question that,

it's gonna, you know,

fly away.

Scorsese:

I don't think there's

any doubt that Steven's work

deals with specific themes

in his life,

which makes him

a real personal filmmaker.

Do you understand

what we are saying

to you, Frank?

Your father and I

are getting a divorce.

And his express

through the images,

through the choice of story

and how he deals with character.

( music playing )

All of Steven's

sensibilities

were right in tune

with this young man's journey.

You're immediately

with this kid,

and no matter

what he does,

you know he's searching

for some way back

to repairing

this torn household.

- Have you tried

to call her?

- No.

Why-- why don't

you call her right now?

Dad, why don't you

call her right now?

Here.

Dad, just call her.

Call her for me.

You call her.

You tell her I have

two first-class tickets

to go see her son--

Your mother's married now

to my friend Jack Barnes.

- They have a house

in Long Island.

- Oh, no.

Scott:

So often

in Spielberg's movies

the relationships

that matter

are the relationships

between parent and children

or members of a family

or members of a community

bound by affection

and loyalty and responsibility.

It's a huge theme

that comes up again

and again and again

in different phases

of his own life

and in different stories.

( tires screeching )

Whoa! Hey!

Ronnie, hold it.

Hold it. Wa--

- ( tires screech )

- Hold it.

Spielberg:

Family is a big element

in my life,

which is why

so many of my stories

are about separation

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