“Munich” is a movie directed by Steven Spielberg. It is a movie based on the true story of the assassination of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972. “Paradise now” is a movie directed by Hany Abu-Assad and it is a story about suicide-bombers. The two movies have a lot in common especially in bringing out the true picture of the things happening around the globe. The two movies are emotional since they bring out the true picture of destructive activities that happen, but are only heard from a distance. People only experiences the destructive activity by watching them on television, experience sirens of the ambulances to the place where suicide bombing had occurred, and on radio where they get the aftermath, counting the wounded and the dead.
“Munich” just like “paradise now” is unique and emotional movies that seek attention from their audiences and that they demand a price to stay with them till the end. They leave the audience with emotionally crushing experience since they focus on the aftermath of the destructive activity. However, they bring the sense of how human life is significant regardless of being the victim or the terrorist. For instance, people are made aware of what had occurred, the name of the suicide-bomber is announced just as a reminder that he or she was a human being who was willing to sacrifice their life. However, the two movies spare the audience the sounds and sights of the suffering caused by the violence. The fact that people have in their ears and retinas many sounds capes and of the afterwards leaves them with screening memories of the most hurtful incidents.
Characters in the two movies are seeking vengeance for their loss of loved ones. In the movie, “Munich” Spielberg uses the 1972 killing of the Israeli athletes by Arab terrorist in Munich. The intense of the movie was not to explain the incident, but it serves as a catalyst of what really follows after the attack. A group people (Mossad agents) are sent to find out and assassinate the Black September terrorist responsible for the attack of the Israeli athletes. On the other hand, in “Paradise Now” Abu-Assad is a story of two childhood friends from Palestine, who had been recruited for a suicide attack in Israel. The story focuses on the children’s last farewell with their families, their work at the garage, their last days together until they cross the barbed wire on the border to Israel. In the two movies, the people set to the mission are left to make decisions. They capture terrorist activities from every angle, the effects of all types of terrorism on every individual, either the killer or the victim. The two movies leave the audience with the question, who really are the killers? The people being attacked or individuals seeking revenge?
In the two movies, the cinematography lighting sounds are of high significance. Music in the background gives them an emotional stance. The music changes audience’s emotions depending with their variation across the movies. They vary depending on the movie environment. They make the audience emotional, scared, and sad amongst many other feelings. The background music in “Paradise Now” and “Munich” is very significant since they are used to bring suspense and more of anticipation of what will happen next. Lightning in the two movies is excellent making the movies watchable and sets the moods along with the music. Lighting in these movies is used appropriately to bring out body movement, visual features, and angles in movies, camera shots, and costumes.
Characters in the two movies, both Jews and Muslim, are real people and no two-dimensional murderers. The two movies clearly demonstrate what the characters go through as they try to revenge. Each assassination carried out by Avner, and his group was different, and each of them affected them in a distinct manner. With each successful mission, they became different people since the dynamic between them shifted. The movie “Paradise Now” is ironical, it echoes an Israeli peace movement named “Peace Now” the Palestine failed to achieve the word “Now” which was a supposed route to paradise. The failure of the word “Now” replaces the perpetuation of the other. Paradise is a long ago or is in here after, the film “Paradise Now” explains the critical and ironical position of how Palestine’s sought to attain Paradise-now. There was a significant gap between Palestine’s anxiety and pressure to attain Paradise on earth. The two movies develop a sense of how different people acts differently at a given situation. The movies are not driven by the brutality in them but the characters reactions to what they are doing. They achieve a broader scope by bringing a broad world of understanding about terrorism issue as a whole, which can happen now and then.
Sound effects are used in an appropriate manner to add an illusion to the movies making them appear as areal thing. Sound design in “Paradise Now” and “Munich” determines the sounds to be used along the movie. There are glass clanking, footsteps, screams and sirens depending on the situation. These sounds make the scene be complete, and the audience can have clear pictures of the incidences as if they are real.
In the two movies, neither party is clean to justify their claims for revenge. Regardless of whether their deeds are good or evil, they are human that is they are motivated by the things that motivate others. The terrorists also seek protection in time of danger; they can sacrifice themselves to save their loved ones. Thus, every death in these movies hurt, not only deaths of good people, but also the bad ones too. These movies will stick in the minds of the audience even after leaving the theatre, and they will be completely changed. They help to bring out how life is the significance in every aspect and that people are equal and have right to life. People will lose more as they revenge thus it is up to them to make up their mind and reason before they act. People should make right decisions even in difficult situations.
References
Carrière, J. (1994). The secret language of film. New York: Pantheon Books.
Leach, R. (2008). Theatre studies: the basics. London: Routledge.
Metz, C. (1974). Film language; a semiotics of the cinema.. New York: Oxford University Press.
Shaw, D. (2012). Morality and the movies: reading ethics through film. New York: Continuum.
