It stands to reason, perhaps, that my first “official blog entry” after the welcome might relate to the most recent happenings in my life.

To that end, I’ll talk about Munich for a moment.

Unless you live under a rock somewhere (or in Arkansas) , you’ve no doubt heard something of the minor swirl of controversy regarding Spielberg’s latest cinematic offering (for those of you from Arkansas, the subject was prominently featured on the cover of Time Magazine’s December 12th issue) . Being an Irish American myself, I won’t claim any particular insight regarding issues that either Arab / Palestinian or Jewish camps might have with the film’s veracity. It is, by it’s own admission, based on actual events, which is Hollywood-speak for “I have taken extreme artistic license with this story in order to:

a. Generate controversy,
b. Advance a social / political position,
c. Sell a truckload of books / tickets, or
d. All of the above.”

Regardless, the movie was outstanding. Secret masterpiece? No, not quite - but it’s rare that a movie this gruesomely violent, which has white-knuckle moments on par with any modern thriller, can provide so poignant an emotional undercurrent while packing a whopper of a relevant moral lesson. Munich delivers on every level, in spades. The actors perform brilliantly - particularly Eric Bana as the patriotic, and ultimately tortured, Avner, leader of an Israeli hit squad sent on a mission of revenge for the killings of eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic games in 1972. I don’t want to go into much more detail than that - the strength of a thriller, after all, is it’s ability to surprise. This is especially important regarding a thriller based, even loosely, on actual historical events. Suffice to say, whether you’re more drawn to sudden, brutal violence, tense action or the power of a true modern morality play, you’ll find something to love about this film. No Greek Tragedy can compare to what has unfolded in the middle east in the last forty years, a point that Spielberg drives home with a sledgehammer.

Sadly, America seems to have reacted with ambivalence to a wonderful, powerful film (for the Arkansasans - yes, there’s boobies in it) . Go see it now before it’s underwhelming box office receipts kill it off.