Do you remember?

[MorganGrayson]

On Sept. 5, 1972, in a pre-dawn raid on the Olympic village in Munich, members of the Palestinian "Black September" group attacked the Israeli living quarters, killing two and taking nine others hostage.

I remember. I remember watching in horror. I will always remember Jim McKay's voice. Today, the word "terrorist" is part of the common vocabulary but back then it wasn't. Those were the days when a plane hijacking meant only that the plane would be diverted to some place other than its destination...which is why flight attendents were trained never to resist. Up until Sept. 5, 1972, the Olympics were a sacred thing, the coming together of nations on a "field of battle" where national pride was expressed through the quality of their atheletes.

It all changed that day.

Steven Spielberg is "very proud" of two early endorsements for "Munich," his controversial new movie, from the widows of two of the 11 Israeli athletes killed in the 1972 Olympic massacre detailed in the film.


"Munich" neither dishonors their husbands' memories nor tarnishes their country's image, the women said after a screening this week.

"We had heard their reaction soon after the screening and we were obviously very, very gratified," Spielberg's Los Angeles-based spokesman, Marvin Levy, said Thursday. "That would clearly be the most sensitive screening we would have. When they said that any concern they might have had was satisfied, this was enormously gratifying and Steven is very proud of that."
Ilana Romano, widow of weightlifter Yosef Romano and Ankie Spitzer, who was married to the fencing coach Andre Spitzer, are the only Israelis to see the film here before its official release late next month. The movie opened in the U.S. Friday.

I'm glad that Spielberg has gotten to the point in his career and his craft so that he can use it to help others always remember, as "Schindler's List" did.

[Red]

I can't wait to see this film.

I remember it well. The thought of the Olympics being attacked like that was unthinkable.

[voodooman]

Nope, I was 1.3 years old.

[Trev]

Originally Posted by voodooman

Nope, I was 1.3 years old.

I was still waiting to be born, I only had another 2 months of hard labour to go though

[Sin]

I wasn't born (nor even thought of yet)

[MorganGrayson]

So much has happened in the lifetimes of the ones who are too young to remember that I don't even have much to compare it to, except perhaps 9/11. Today, it takes 3K Americans going to work to die in a terrorist attack to clutch at the gut. Back then...it only took 11 Olympic atheletes.

[Dravyk]

It's a higher stakes game. That is, they like to blow up more people at once now.

That said, any "number" tends to unsettle one ... That Olympics, the Achille Largo, Idi Amin and Entebbe, the truck bomb into the military housing, the South African embassy bombings ... All, sadly, memorable and shocking.

[PornoDoggy]

I remember watching it with horror.

Spielberg is taking heat from both sides in this film, as is to be expected. I hope to see the film at some point (it's not likely to play anywhere within 100 miles of here).

I personally think it is oversimplistic to associate what happened at Munich with 9/11. Tempting - but incorrect.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by PornoDoggy

I remember watching it with horror.

Spielberg is taking heat from both sides in this film, as is to be expected. I hope to see the film at some point (it's not likely to play anywhere within 100 miles of here).

I personally think it is oversimplistic to associate what happened at Munich with 9/11. Tempting - but incorrect.

PD...I read that most of the "criticism" he's received regarding the movie is from people who haven't seen it, as the movie has been closely guarded. The two widows that saw it, who had the full "right" to an opinion - everyone has their right to an opinion, but some opinions carry more weight than others - appreciated the film and gave it their version of a thumbs up.

I know it was overly simplistic, but I couldn't think of anything to get the point across regarding the horror of watching it unfold on television. I watched the 9/11 horrors on television the same way...stunned disbelief. It wasn't so much a comparison of the two events, but a comparison of watching something horrific unfold on television.

[Evil Chris]

Speilberg is good at getting a dramatic and emotional point across.

Maybe he should make a movie about needless domestic poverty, huge cracks in the education system, and health care.

[TheEnforcer]

Wsa two years old when that happened so can't say I remember anything about it.

[PornoDoggy]

It's not simplistic to compare the personal reactions to Munich and 9/11.

Didn't mean to imply that at all.

[MorganGrayson]

Originally Posted by PornoDoggy

It's not simplistic to compare the personal reactions to Munich and 9/11.

Didn't mean to imply that at all.

My dearest, darling PD...lest you and I descend into one of those hopeless valleys where we become impossibly polite to one another to avoid offending each other, I'm going to stop this now with a smilie.



There.

Nothing like fucking coconuts to set the improper tone.