In his new film Munich, an account of the revenge programme that followed the murder of 11 Israeli athletes by terrorists at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Steven Spielberg is exorcising more than one demon. Paul Dale explains.
ome time in late l972. 26-year—old Iilmmaker Steven Spielberg was living in the hippy community ol‘ Laurel (‘anyon in his Angeles. Ile was wondering how he could consolidate the critical success ol‘ his television I’ilm Duel. a movie that had been released theatrically in Iiurope to much more acclaim than it had in its own country. Meanwhile. somewhere in Israel. a Mossad secret agent named Avner was led into a sunlit room. Inside. he was introduced to (ieneral Xvi
14 THE LIST l’i .Jan 1/ ‘ cl; 20M,
Back with a VENGEANCE
Xamir. Major (ieneral Ariel Sharon. selected memune (mysterious high ranking Israeli secret
service ollicers) and the Israel's prime minister
(iolda Meir.
.»\vner. a young but militarily gil'ted army commando and secret service agent. was asked about the health of his lather now disgruntled agent —- bel'ore sitting down to tea. sandwiches and a lecture l‘rom Meir.
Seven thousand tniles away Spielberg was in the later stages of lilming and editing his first movie proper ~ Sugar/and [zit/ire.” - about a convict. lresh out ol’ prison on his way to see his kids. who abducted a cop and was followed
through the back roads ol’ Texas by a caravan ol'
highway patrolmen. It was initially greenlit l’ollowing the success of [fury Rider. but Spielberg dil’l‘ered Irom his contemporaries in that his sense ol‘ populism knew no bounds. In the case ol’ .S'u‘eur/uml he tried to get the studio to let him make the ending more upbeat. Producer Richard '/.anuek. not yet assured ol‘ Spielberg’s gilt l'or acumen. urged him to stick to the original darkly tragic concept.
Meanwhile. back in Israel. (iolda Meir spoke about the need to stem Arab lundamentalist tl‘edayeen) terror I‘ollowing the massacre ol‘ l I
a well known il‘
Spielberg on set (above) and (opposite) scenes from the film, which juxtaposes fictionalised accounts with footage from the 1972 Olympics
Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic games and the hijack til at I.ul‘thansa Night by an alliliated Black September group that ()etober. Bew'ildered by his invitation to this gathering ol top brass. Avner stood and bowed slightly as Meir took her leay c. It was then explained to him that he was being asked to be part ol’ the lirst wave ol a top secret retaliation campaign. Meir’s advisors had recommended that the best response to the terrorist attacks was to assassinate anyone involved. Mossad. which was in charge ol' implementing the directiye. was putting together several assassination teams. and Avner was asked to lead the one that would be set outside the arm and control ol‘ the govermnent. .»\vner. who had a heavily pregnant wile at home. tried to stall his decision to take part btit was told he only had one day to decide. Being a patriot and a .sabra ta native born Israeli) he knew the decision was in I;th already made. It was a decision that was to mark his lil'e l‘orey er. Io put things in conte\t. when Spielberg was making .S'u‘eur/um/ \Villiam I‘riedkin was shooting The livorrixl and lirancis I-‘ord ('oppola 'l‘lu' ('onvermIio/i. Spielberg and his geeky young sidekick George Lucas cut a wry dill‘erent ligure born the other young guns who