hung around the drinking and shooting galleries of Hollywood in the l97()s. As writer/actor 'Kit' Carson (Paris. 'litms) recalls in Peter Biskind’s seminal chronicle ol‘ the period. Iiusy Riders Raging Bulls: ‘liverybody was up. the revolution was about to happen burn it all down -- that sort or thing. all Steve was interested in was trying to ligure out a way to throw a camera oil a building and rig it with gyroscope so that it wouldn‘t spin out or control as it went down. I said “This kids like lucked. lle‘s completely lost in the ozone.” Later. ('arson was to recall that. unlike Martin Scorsese. Brian De Palma or llal
Ashby. Spielberg ‘didn't want to be the son of
Jean Luc (iodard. he wanted to be the son of Sid Sheinberg lstteeessltll Hollywood producerl. He was just so different from the others.. liven reactionary macho liberal hating writer and director John Militis (Red Dawn) once noted that ‘Steven was the one who ran out to buy the trade papers. He was always talking about grosses.’
By the end ol‘ 197.3 Avner and his international team of anonymous assassins had successfully got rid of nine l’l.() terrorists with great emotional and physical cost to them all (some members of his team died in counter attacks). Israel's vengeance had been theirs but an eye for an eye had left them all blind. Avner ot'licially lel‘t Mossad on bitter terms in I974. Alter two years ol’ stressl'ul field operations. he was emotionally drained and extremely disappointed with the Mossad leadership. Alter disagreements over payment and veiled threats made to his family when he said he wanted to leave. Avner left for .\'ew York. In an attempt to start a new life. he teamed with (‘anadian Jewish writer (ieorge Jonas to publiin the accounts of his experiences. 'l‘heir book li'ngwuu'v was released in I983. Just under 20 years later Spielberg l'inally' committed himselt‘ to a script dral't adaptation by the writer of Angels in Anu'rit'u. Tony Kushner.
In the intervening years Spielberg had become a rich man and a gifted tilmmaker. Shortly alter .S'ugur/uml [Liv/Mess. Jun-v and ('lim' lim'omilers' (girlie 'I'lu'nl Kim! he had cemented his reputation as the nerdy wunderkind who. along v\ itli buddy Lucas. had. in the words ol‘ Paul Schrader. eaten
IN 1993 SPIELBERG PULLED OFF A STUNNING VOLTE- FACE WHEN HE REMEMBERED HE WAS JEWISH
‘the heart and soul ottl oli Hollywood. with his ‘big budget comic book mentality”. Despite his enormous bo\' ol'l'ice success Spielberg had somehow managed to delete himsell' from the yearbooks ol- the coolest ever class to emerge from l'('l..-\. Regardless ol‘ all his good work. his legacy amongst those who prolessed to really care about cinema was that ol' the boy who dumbed it all down. And then he remembered that he was Jewish.
ln I993 he pulled off a stunning career volte- lace. .S'i'liim/lvr's List. his lirst lilm to deal with a key moment in Jewish history. was inlluenced by post-war Czechoslovakian and Polish New Wave cinema ol. among others. l-‘orman. Waida and Men/el and was a harrowing. brilliant and brutal tale ol llolocaust heroics and tragedy. The lilm revived Spielberg's stock among those who had tailed to be enthused by the man’s commercial highs (Kurt/H's (if-I/H’ Ins! xll'lv. [Lu/l The ('Ulm'
l’ur/ilv. .lm'russii' Park) or low s t/9—ll. limp/7r of
the Sim. xl/H‘(l_\'_\. Hunk). ln Sr/ii/Hl/vr's and now
STEVEN SPIELBERG
Mirna/i. which details Avner and his men's emotionally corrosive mission into the liuropean hideaways ot’ l’l.() sympathisers. there can be little doubt that Spielberg is rewriting his past and creating the kind ol‘ lilm he should have been making during that rare time in Hollywood history ~ when the young and mildly insane were handed the reigns and allowed to ride their one- eyed horses as tar as they could. Aside from a few givens in any Spielberg movie (the sermonising. the overly obvious symbolism. the occasionally cloying sentimentality and the inllated length). Mun/(Ii resembles little of what Spielberg served up bel‘ore I993. Shot on location mostly in Malta and Hungary by his favourite cinematographer Janus/ Kaminski (Saving Private Ryan. (‘ulc/I Me If You (an. Al) the film looks and feels like Spielberg has finally decided to embrace the naturalist tradition of cinema that he spent so long avoiding. l.ike Avner before him. Spielberg may" finally be turning his back on the state and movement that he helped to create. though in the filmmakers case it‘s not lsrael. but the all consuming single state country that is the American blockbuster. Whether it is just a mid-life crisis or an overwhelming need to show his ageing contemporaries that he is no longer the geek in the yard. Spielberg is staying true to the sayings ol‘ Akavya. the sage of Misnah: ‘Know whence thou camest. and wither thou art going.‘
General release from Fri 27 Jan.
ft .32} THE LIST 15