Relative morals? Spielberg
Photo: Reuters
Faceless enemies: Paradise Now
Artistic terror
Paradise Now and Munich are both films of moral relativism
Two movies dealing with Palestinian terrorism – Hani Abu-Assad's "Paradise Now"
and Steven Spielberg's "Munich"
- were recently nominated for Oscar awards.
Fair portrayal
Alan D. Abbey
Complex Spielberg film leaves no doubt who 'bad guys' are, writes Alan D. Abbey
The first, which tells the story of two friends who set off on a suicide mission to Tel Aviv, has already been awarded the Golden Globe award – an important award in its own right – by Hollywood's foreign entertainment writers.
The second is about the assassination of members of the Black September group who murdered members of the Israeli delegation to the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich.
Unfair praise
The praise heaped on both films makes me angry. In my opinion, both films are substandard works, more deserving of condemnation than praise. Not because they aren't well made, but rather because they fail to take a clear moral stand about issues that demand moral judgment.
Avoiding judgment out of a belief that all narratives deserve equal treatment only serves the criminal narrative. Spielberg presents the viewer with a question: Does not revenge for a criminal act bring the avengers down to the same moral level as the criminals?
No answers
He pointedly fails to provide a clear answer, but provides enough hints that suggest the murderer and his victim have equal standing.
In doing so, he avoids deal with the real dilemma: what should people do to protect themselves from people who want to kill them? Should they avoid acting in ways that stand in contrast to accepted norms, even when those looking to kill them have nothing but scorn for any and all rules of normative human society?
Average boys
Abu-Assad is gentler and cleverer. He never praises the "martyrs," nor does he denounce them, but the viewer is led to admire the two Palestinian boys.
They are normal and nice, not religious fanatics and have מo dreams of 70 brown-eyed virgins waiting on the other side. They act like what they are doing is just a normal, everyday thing, what they are supposed to do and expected to do.
Just a normal day's activity? (Photo: Reuters)
But the result of their actions - dozens of mangled human bodies - is never made clear, thus equating people with an identity with the simple evil of their actions.
The methods of struggle against evil like this fail to present the question of permissible methods in the struggle.
Clear message
By failing to show the bloody images, dismissed by the reviewers as artistic sensitivity, is a clear political message: people live on only one side of the fence, while on the other side there are only faceless entities that can be slaughtered with no second thoughts.
I prefer decent movies, which identify evil and call it by its name, even if my opinion differs from the artist regarding who the bad guys really are.
Cartoon riots
The world is in an uproar over series of cartoons, published in a Danish newspaper that portray the prophet Mohammed.
Cartoon riots
Dan Schueftan
Even in Europe, the penny has dropped about radical Islam
Cartoons that insult the faiths of others are published all the time in newspapers throughout the Muslim world, but fail to attract much attention.
The reason for this is that the West does not suffer from the inferiority complex that Islamic society does. It has adopted the principle of free speech. In Western countries, God is not the landlord, but rather just another tenant.
Special treatment
Despite this, in both Christian countries and here in Israel, religious faith is seen as an idea worthy of special, careful treatment and consideration.
In my opinion, this is the critical question: Why is it okay to insult other ideas, whatever they may be, whereas religious faiths, which are connected to the most simplistic and murderous family ever created by the human mind, is deserving of special treatment.
Secular triumph
The answer is connected to the way: religion is not subject to proof, and believers believe they have found the only truth.
The moderation of religious moderates stems not from their religious beliefs, but rather from their acceptance of secular humanist principles.
As long as the West, after the Reformationist Wars graduated to the "Enlightenment Period," the Muslim world is still a retarded child.
It is very scary to argue with a violent, grown-up child that is accustomed to striking out at anything that might insult him.
Yaron London is a regular contributor to Israel’s leading newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth
