I'm joining the party in Munich and Japan
Part 1: Munich
For those of you who follow the entertainment news, there has been a volcano of controversy surrounding Steven Spielberg's latest film, Munich. A lot of the hoo-haa took place before the release of the movie, and even more hoo-haa has come about after the release of the film. Mostly, a lot of hoo-haa is not about the film at all!
For those of you who's a little bit blur, this is the deal. Steven Spielberg, entertainment icon for the jews (since making Schindler's List), made Munich. The movie takes place right after the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where Israeli atheletes were held hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. The atheletes were all killed. The movie goes on to show how the Israelis organized a hit squad to assassinate all those involved, one by one.
So far, all of the above sounds harmless, because it is inspired by true events anyway, in a ver vague sense. That's what's the movie is about anyway.
The controversy stems from the way Spielberg has presented the entire story. Some call it pro-Israeli, while some call it pro-Palestine, simply because Spielberg (as he has very cleverly done in the past) is the master of bringing out the human element in each of his characters, even in his plain-fun movies. By doing so, he portrayed the both sides of the parties in less favorable ways to the other party. He, as a filmmaker, for his own reasons, did what he did.
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't tell you for nuts if it's a good movie or not. But here are a few good articles. Actually, I'm going to give you one article only. It's the one written by Roger Ebert's editor, about all the criticisms directed at the movie. I sincerely agree with him, even though I haven't seen the movie.
Which is actually the whole point, seeing the movie. People aren't reviewing Munich as a film so far, really. I'm a staunch Spielberg supporter, so I shall refrain from commenting on anything about the film, in and out of context, until I have seen it.
*
Part 2: Memoirs of a Geisha
The other big buzz in film industry lately is about Memoirs of a Geisha, the film adaptation of the famous Arthur Golden book.
The buzz is about the casting, actually. Many Japanese and Chinese people alike are critisizing the choice of actresses, namely Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li, who are Chinese (Michelle Yeoh is from Malaysia, not mainland China), to play the celebrated Japanese roles.
Maybe there's a certain amount of Japanese-Chinese tension behind all that, which I understand. That has been the case for many years. But let me point something out.
Cast list for the lead Rangers/Delta forces in Black Hawk Down (a movie about American soldiers in Somalia)
Josh Hartnett (USA)
Ewan McGregor (Scotland)
Jason Isaacs (UK)
Tom Sizemore (USA)
William Fichtner (USA)
Eric Bana (Australian)
Sam Shepard (USA)
Ewen Bremner (Scotland)
Tom Hardy (UK)
Hugh Dancy (UK)
More than half the leading cast for such a big shot film used Brits to represent Americans! I don't see any complaints about "THE UNITED KINGDOM ONCE COLONIZED US!". Yes they are all allies now, but no one really complained.
Then let's take another example... Hmm. Let's use the highest rated film on IMDb.com. The Godfather. It's about the Italian mafia in USA. Okay
Marlon Brando (USA) No Italian blood. There's French, Dutch and English blood, though. No Italian.
Al Pacino (USA) Despite his Italian name, he has hardly any Italian blood.
Okay Okay. Anyway. One can argue that at least Black Hawk Down used some Americans in the lead roles and maybe you can argue that Al Pacino has a bloodline of Italians. So... Memoirs of a Geisha have Ken Watabane.
Only problem is... most people say he's a hollywood-ized and Americanized Japanese actor. Let's find out how true is this... Let's take a look at his career.
Ken Watanabe has made 24 movies to date. Only 3 of which are made in Hollywood, the rest are Japanese films made in Japan. From 1984 to 2003, he made only Japanese films, until he acted in Ed Zwick flick "The Last Samurai", in which he acted as a Japanese Samurai anyway.
In terms of recognition, he was nominated for the Oscars in 2004 for The Last Samurai. However, before that, he was nominated 3 times for the Japanese Academy Awards, the Japanese equivalent of the Oscars in 1999, 2002, and 2003, for his performances in JAPANESE FILMS.
So... unless you're saying that Oscar nominations and ONE successful performance in a Hollywood film makes you an Americanized character (Jean Reno, that means you as well. And Roberto Benigni, you as well. And Hayao Miyazaki, you sold all your film rights to Disney and won an Oscar for Spirited Away didn't you? Oh, that means you too... Jean Pierre Jeunet, that's you as well.), then world cinema is doomed!
DOOMED!
Just watch the bloody movie, will ya?
*
ding.
For those of you who follow the entertainment news, there has been a volcano of controversy surrounding Steven Spielberg's latest film, Munich. A lot of the hoo-haa took place before the release of the movie, and even more hoo-haa has come about after the release of the film. Mostly, a lot of hoo-haa is not about the film at all!
For those of you who's a little bit blur, this is the deal. Steven Spielberg, entertainment icon for the jews (since making Schindler's List), made Munich. The movie takes place right after the 1972 Olympics in Munich, where Israeli atheletes were held hostage by the Palestinian terrorist group Black September. The atheletes were all killed. The movie goes on to show how the Israelis organized a hit squad to assassinate all those involved, one by one.
So far, all of the above sounds harmless, because it is inspired by true events anyway, in a ver vague sense. That's what's the movie is about anyway.
The controversy stems from the way Spielberg has presented the entire story. Some call it pro-Israeli, while some call it pro-Palestine, simply because Spielberg (as he has very cleverly done in the past) is the master of bringing out the human element in each of his characters, even in his plain-fun movies. By doing so, he portrayed the both sides of the parties in less favorable ways to the other party. He, as a filmmaker, for his own reasons, did what he did.
I haven't seen the movie, so I can't tell you for nuts if it's a good movie or not. But here are a few good articles. Actually, I'm going to give you one article only. It's the one written by Roger Ebert's editor, about all the criticisms directed at the movie. I sincerely agree with him, even though I haven't seen the movie.
Which is actually the whole point, seeing the movie. People aren't reviewing Munich as a film so far, really. I'm a staunch Spielberg supporter, so I shall refrain from commenting on anything about the film, in and out of context, until I have seen it.
*
Part 2: Memoirs of a Geisha
The other big buzz in film industry lately is about Memoirs of a Geisha, the film adaptation of the famous Arthur Golden book.
The buzz is about the casting, actually. Many Japanese and Chinese people alike are critisizing the choice of actresses, namely Zhang Ziyi, Michelle Yeoh, and Gong Li, who are Chinese (Michelle Yeoh is from Malaysia, not mainland China), to play the celebrated Japanese roles.
Maybe there's a certain amount of Japanese-Chinese tension behind all that, which I understand. That has been the case for many years. But let me point something out.
Cast list for the lead Rangers/Delta forces in Black Hawk Down (a movie about American soldiers in Somalia)
Josh Hartnett (USA)
Ewan McGregor (Scotland)
Jason Isaacs (UK)
Tom Sizemore (USA)
William Fichtner (USA)
Eric Bana (Australian)
Sam Shepard (USA)
Ewen Bremner (Scotland)
Tom Hardy (UK)
Hugh Dancy (UK)
More than half the leading cast for such a big shot film used Brits to represent Americans! I don't see any complaints about "THE UNITED KINGDOM ONCE COLONIZED US!". Yes they are all allies now, but no one really complained.
Then let's take another example... Hmm. Let's use the highest rated film on IMDb.com. The Godfather. It's about the Italian mafia in USA. Okay
Marlon Brando (USA) No Italian blood. There's French, Dutch and English blood, though. No Italian.
Al Pacino (USA) Despite his Italian name, he has hardly any Italian blood.
Okay Okay. Anyway. One can argue that at least Black Hawk Down used some Americans in the lead roles and maybe you can argue that Al Pacino has a bloodline of Italians. So... Memoirs of a Geisha have Ken Watabane.
Only problem is... most people say he's a hollywood-ized and Americanized Japanese actor. Let's find out how true is this... Let's take a look at his career.
Ken Watanabe has made 24 movies to date. Only 3 of which are made in Hollywood, the rest are Japanese films made in Japan. From 1984 to 2003, he made only Japanese films, until he acted in Ed Zwick flick "The Last Samurai", in which he acted as a Japanese Samurai anyway.
In terms of recognition, he was nominated for the Oscars in 2004 for The Last Samurai. However, before that, he was nominated 3 times for the Japanese Academy Awards, the Japanese equivalent of the Oscars in 1999, 2002, and 2003, for his performances in JAPANESE FILMS.
So... unless you're saying that Oscar nominations and ONE successful performance in a Hollywood film makes you an Americanized character (Jean Reno, that means you as well. And Roberto Benigni, you as well. And Hayao Miyazaki, you sold all your film rights to Disney and won an Oscar for Spirited Away didn't you? Oh, that means you too... Jean Pierre Jeunet, that's you as well.), then world cinema is doomed!
DOOMED!
Just watch the bloody movie, will ya?
*
ding.
2 Comments:
Hmmm...meng yoe...if Pacino "has a bloodline of Italians" how can he hardly have any Italian blood?
A good post, with decent examples. You forgot Orlando Bloom in Black Hawk Down, another Brit.
Perhaps you could use Lord of the Rings as an example as well, given that none of the hobbits are...well, actually hobbits... :>
Fikri
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