Posted on 01/02/2006 1:43:27 PM PST by Cinnamon Girl
P.S. Hank Azaria played a similiar character to Newman's in the 2001 t.v. movie "Uprising" about the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.
Have you seen it?
Spielberg prefers his Jews as victims, not as fighters.
The theme song was my eighth-grade choir's contest piece, and I still can sing it.
If you REALLY want to look at how favorably the Jews used to be treated, go watch "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur" again. When you watch those movies, you would think that the American Revolution was run by Israelites. Very pro-Jewish movies, unlike today.
I likes the old Hollywood much better.
I saw it when it came out. It's been quite a while, but I certainly enjoyed it, and as you say, it painted the Israelis as real heroes of--shall we say--biblical proportions. Their backs were pushed to the wall, they were close to extermination, but they prevailed.
I havent seen or read it in years, but Ive often recommended the film/book for that reason. We see the Palestinians, theyre spoken of throughout the film. And the Palestinians are Jews.
As I recall there are also several scenes depicting the friendly relationship between some of the local Arab population and the Jews, excuse me, the Palestinians. And a scene I remember where I presume the Sal Mineo character is warned of the Muftis followers.
No, they wouldnt make the film today.
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I also think that Spielberg made a business decision to create a film that could earn some money in the Muslim world. This is why Islamic terrorist themes get excised from screenplays.
I've not seen Exodus in many years, but it was a good movie. I'll have to see it again.
I saw it years ago. I also read the book and it was great -- better than the movie.
1964 was the year it all fell apart.
Leon Urius wrote the book "Exedous". It goes into far more detail and is very well written. The kind of book you just can't put down. For example the character Sal Mineo plays is a "Sondercommando" in a concetration camp. He removes bodies from the ovens. It delves into the past of the principals to explain their beliefs they carry with them now.
I'd prefer that people read the book. A movie of such a book is the same as only reading the introduction and not the content.
There's another excellent movie about the Munich subject. A made for cable movie from back in the 80s.
SWORD OF GIDEON I recommend it.
After reading your post, I found the following review of Munich, which I don't plan on seeing.
http://www.fandango.com/ReviewPage.aspx?mid=92524&review_source=LosAngelesTimes
I remember that theme song too.
I wouldn't call "Ben-Hur" a "pro-Jewish" movie.
I recently bought the piano music for my daughter to learn - beautiful piece....and a good movie too!
You'll enjoy this "professional" (sort of) review of Exodus:
http://www.unionsverlag.com/info/link.asp?link_id=4465&pers_id=1717&pic=../portrait/LaorYitzhak.jpg&tit=Yitzhak%20Laor
"....Leon Uris himself would not have written the book had he not been endowed with a considerable amount of the "new" type of Zionism. When "Exodus" was first published, Uris was interviewed and said: "There is a whole school of Jewish American writers who spend their time damning their fathers, hating their mothers, wringing their hands and wondering why they were born." In the background, of course, are Philip Roth, Bernard Malamud, Saul Bellow and others. "This isn't art or literature," wrote Uris. "It's psychiatry. These writers are professional apologists. Every year you find one of their works on the best-seller lists. Their work is obnoxious and makes me sick to my stomach."
"Exodus," of course, is the antithesis to what he calls "obnoxious" literature: "I wrote `Exodus' because I was sick of apologizing - or feeling it was necessary to apologize. The Jewish community of this country has contributed far more greatly than its numbers - in art, in medicine and especially literature."
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