Trilogy of Middle Eastern terrorist films

"Yes I had a dream I, stood beneath an orange sky
With my brother standing by..."

Paradise Now is the story of two young Palestinians that are summoned to bomb Tel Aviv. The film showcases a roller-coaster of emotions as these two young men decide what they want to make of their lives. Stay and be shamed in front of their fellow countrymen, or die, killing innocent people in the fight for their beliefs. The film goes over every step in the process of terrorism in great detail, and displays strong signs of the inner struggle of both men.

Syriana is a broader story. Weaving together the tales of many people involved in the oil industries both in the States and in the Middle East. One story is about a shady merger between two major oil companies in Texas. Another is of a CIA operative, hanging on the edge of his role in the global political underbelly of big oil. A minor tale is of a young man recruited into the struggle between countries. The last major story-line is of an oil broker and his family, and how he deals with the idealistic prince poised to fill his father's shoes.

Munich focuses mainly on the tale of five Israelis sent to assassinate the brains behind the kidnapping murders known as Black September. They traipse across Europe looking for the information about the planners, encountering troubles the whole way. Do they locate all the leaders? If so, do they assassinate them all? Do all five assassins make it out alive? You will have to watch the movie to find out.

Seeing Munich on Sunday night concluded this trilogy of Middle Eastern terrorist films. Back in the tail end of November I saw Paradise Now. Last week I caught Syriana [Now people, I am not talking about something I 'caught' from of a lady of the evening, get your mind out of the gutters]. Then there is Sunday night's film.By the time I walked out of the theater the first two times, my mind was racing a thousand miles a second. But upon leaving Munich it was running a million miles a second. The information from all three films was bouncing around in my head like a load of dirty undies in the wash.

I think all three are very well done, with Syriana being the weakest just barely. In my opinion Munich was both the most violent and tense of the three, but Paradise Now was the best. Paradise Now had a broader range over the full emotional spectrum, of course, because it is a movie about two terrorists. How in the world are Americans supposed to feel for these terrorists unless an emotional bond is established? All that being said, Munich kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. It deftly moved between each killing with the same cunning and precision that the assassins did. Well sort of. They were not always cunning. They were sometimes downright bumbling. Syriana, while being an excellent film, seemed a little disjointed in places. I think if I would have seen it first, I would have enjoyed it more. The one thing that Syriana makes me want to do is read more about the situation. I am going to pick up Bob Baer's* two books and read them.

All in all, I think it is great that films like these are made. If these films do their job correctly, more people will read up on the subject. We can no longer blindly trust the news of this nation anymore. 24 hour news is the downfall of broadcast journalism here in the states. That's my only political statement, I swear.

Another good thing about these kinds of films make the goofy-funny films better for me. I do not want to be faced with death and destruction in every film I see.



* Bob Baer's two books are the basis for Syriana.



Until next time:
"All men are brothers, like the seas throughout the world; So why do winds and waves clash so fiercely everywhere?" - Emperor Hirohito