Steven Spielberg's "Munich" hits the German screens tomorrow

Although Spielberg's "Munich" includes documentary footage, Verena Lueken of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung questions whether the film accurately portrays history, especially in dealing with Israeli secret service reprisals in the wake of the kidnapping. "Political thrillers like this don't have to correspond exactly to historical truth. But they should at least be believable. And who can believe that for such an important mission, the Mossad would choose an inexperienced father who – as we later see – trembles and has considerable pangs of conscience when it comes to killing for the first time?" Lueken feels Spielberg's image of Europe also lacks originality: "For Spielberg, travelling across Europe means bicycles in Holland, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and the London rain."

The entire first page of the feuilleton section in the Süddeutsche Zeitung deals with "Munich". Tobias Kniebe calls the film "a provocative and enervating contradiction," but he does concede: "The relationship between reality and cinema is and remains precarious. And this must be continually brought to people's attention. Otherwise the power of the images to thrust themselves in front of the truth becomes too great." He goes on: "Regardless of all that can be said against it, 'Munich' is certainly more exciting, more thought-provoking and more worthy of being talked about than most films that will come out of Hollywood this year." Susan Vahabzadeh, for her part, lists the facts that contradict Spielberg's – and his critics' – portrayal of the events during and after the 1972 Olympic Games.

Writing in Die Welt, Hanns-Georg Rodek calls "Munich" "contract killer cinema," but doesn't hold that against the film: "When, towards the end, Spielberg intersperses parallel scenes of horror and ecstasy, it is as if, pushed on by his artistic ambition, a talent of the century had for once demanded too much of himself. Instead of the famous Spielberg smoothness, 'Munich' has rifts and chinks. And that's good, because they provide a space for thoughts to spring up. Even the third key dialogue between agent Avner and Mossad boss Ephraim has no clear victor. And at the end, when 9 of 11 people targeted for elimination by the Mossad have been liquidated, the camera comes to rest on the Twin Towers."


Die Tageszeitung, 25.01.2006

The Pinnochio Prize for irresponsible corporate behaviour has been announced, and will be presented today on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos. And the winner is... Silvio Berlusconi! Italian playwright and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature Dario Fo writes: "There is no better representation of Berlusconi than this prize; more, the award gives him the place in history that he deserves." The prize was accepted on behalf of Berlusconi by his doppelgänger Maurizio Antonini who in a very gracious speech proclaimed, "As a responsible leader, I take responsibility and the consequences thereof. I expect this responsible kind of leadership from all other political and corporate leaders, whether left or right, successful or not. Because if they take responsibility into their own hands, we'll be able to master the challenges of the future together. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your trust."


Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 25.01.06

Jürg Altwegg looks at Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to France, where Jacques Chirac received her not in the Elysee Palace but in Versailles. "While meandering through the 'The Splendours of the House of Saxony' exhibition, Chirac told the Chancellor, fresh out of ice-cold Germany, the anecdote of the rhinoceros that was brought from Portugal for Albrecht Dürer to paint (the result). The rhino hadn't even reached Paris when the ship went down. Another metaphor? Such a cultural and historical digression – into the 16th century! - was a first in the history of summits. But with the anger about the value added taxes in restaurants, the European constitution and Merkel's dangerous love of America, there were a few topics whose sharpness needed softening with a little programme of distractions."


Die Welt, 25.01.2006

Twenty-five years ago today the members of the infamous "Gang of Four" were sentenced in Beijing. Thomas Kiesinger interviews Mao biographer Jung Chang about the role played by Mao's wife Jiang Qing in the Cultural Revolution: "The instructions she gave to the Red Guards all came straight from Mao. I can remember her very words during the trial: 'I was Chairman Mao's dog. What he said to bite, I bit.' ... She was aggressive and uncompromising when it came to persecuting people and sending them to jail. But as soon as she appeared in Mao's surroundings, she was as timid as a mouse. At the end Mao didn't even want to see her. Jiang Qing got on his nerves, and he ordered his mistresses not to let her in to see him."