Uncovering an Olympian disgrace
By Calev Ben-David
(September 15) - Boycott the Olympics! Okay, maybe I'll feel a little different when the Sydney 2000 games open tonight, especially on hearing the stirring notes of the Olympic theme song, Aaron Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man."
But right now I'm still reeling from the powerhouse impact of One Day in September, the Oscar-winning documentary about the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre broadcast on Channel 2 Monday night.
Like most people old enough to have watched the tragedy unfold live on television at the time, I was already aware that the Germans screwed up mightily in their botched attempt to rescue the Israeli hostages, and that the International Olympic Committee acted callously in letting the games continue after the murder of the 11 Israeli sportsmen.
Indeed, seeing once again the footage of ABC newscaster Jim McKay's heroic nonstop coverage of the events actually awakened a Proustian memory-wave of near-physical nausea in the pit of my stomach. I also cringed a little at the sight of the famous Jerusalem Post front page incorrectly announcing (like many other newspapers, thanks to misinformation spread by the German government) that the Israeli hostages had been saved.
Still, only after watching One Day in September did I realize the degree to which the German government was guilty of what can only be described as criminally negligent homicide, and the IOC of utter, depraved indifference to the lives of those murdered Jewish athletes.
Even worse was the revelation of Germany's complicity in later allowing the three surviving Black September terrorists to walk free, an act one German official practically admits on-camera was done with the approval of then West German premier (and cowardly arch-appeaser) Willy Brandt.
Kudos to producer Arthur Cohn for finally bringing this story to full light and scoring such other coups as obtaining a rare on-camera interview with Jamal al-Jashe, the one remaining (and unrepentant) terrorist of those who actually penetrated the Olympic village, who now lives in an unidentified African nation after having - regrettably - survived several Mossad attempts on his life.
One has to wonder, though, why nobody besides Cohn, especially in the American news media, ever tried to get the full story before this late date. Could it be because the US networks, which compete with each other to purchase the rights to the games and then spend millions more promoting them, was afraid to antagonize the IOC?
ONE DAY in September has a great story to tell, and tells it superbly, never over-emphasizing the obvious and keeping the focus narrow enough to make the film unreel with all the urgency of a classic thriller. The filmmakers never make the mistake of over-editorializing - which makes all the more shocking such moments as when the above-named German official is, incredibly, seen laughing as he recalls the ineptitude of his country's feeble rescue attempt.
My only caveat with One Day in September is that while it amply relates the inequity of the IOC during this affair, it fails to specifically cite by name then-IOC chairman Avery Brundage, who bears a lion's share of the blame.
Brundage had already earned infamy for his role as US Olympic Committee chairman in 1936, when he rebuffed attempts to boycott the 1936 Berlin games by dismissing them as part of a "Jewish-Communist conspiracy." He then arranged for the benching of two American Jewish runners in Berlin, a move one of them, Marty Glickman, directly attributes to Brundage's own antisemitism. No wonder, then, that Brundage cared so little about the lives of Jewish athletes that he allowed the Olympic Games to continue, even while the Israelis were being held hostage.
As the film notes at its end, the families of the 11 Israeli athletes are still engaged in a court battle, demanding damages from the German federal, state, and city governments responsible for doing so little to save the lives of their loved ones. Earlier this year a Bavarian state court rejected their claim by lamely arguing that the relevant statute of limitations had expired.
After seeing One Day in September, this position is clearly indefensible. And as for the vaunted "Olympic spirit" - well, let's just say that while I will be watching some of the Sydney games, it will be with the bitter taste of Munich in my mouth.
THIS week saw the debut of the most eagerly anticipated new locally produced series of the season, The Bourgeoisie, broadcast on Channel 2 Sunday nights at 9:45.
The anticipation is due to the fact that it involves the same writers and performers as The Cameri Quintet, the satirical comedy revue show rightly regarded as one of the (rare) highlights of Israeli TV during the past decade.
This time around, the quintet members - Keren Mor, Rami Hoiberger, Shai Avivi, Menashe Noi, and Dov Navon - supplemented by a few other actors, portray a group of Tel Aviv yuppies sufficiently focused on domestic matters, personal pleasures, and material concerns to seemingly care little about the larger political issues that usually dominate our lives here. In essence, this is an local on the territory covered by Jerry Seinfeld and Woody Allen; and to some degree does reflect a growing reality for at least some segment of Israeli society.
Other TV critics have expressed some disappointment with The Bourgeoisie, mainly on the grounds that it often plays like an extended Cameri Quintet sketch. To which my response is: What's wrong with that? The joke may well eventually wear thin unless the series later develops its characters and themes to greater degree, but I still found the opening episode sufficiently sharp and amusing compared with most of the other locally produced TV dreck.
It's true that, for example, the character of Nina, a thirtysomething single travel agent who's so blithely self-absorbed she seems to live on her own plane of existence, is one Mor has played countless times on the Cameri Quintet. But Mor is such an adept comedienne that her shtick is no less enjoyable in the context of a more extended format.
What I like best about The Bourgeoisie is the way this country's deeper social problems still manage to percolate up into the seemingly banal surface of the Israeli middle-class presented here. Thus, the successful Sephardi character played by Noi is shown here suffering from the same ethnic sensitivities that afflict your average Shas voter. In fact, the central theme of the whole first episode is the way the classic Israeli macho male ethic still infects the supposedly more "enlightened" lifestyle of these upwardly mobile male characters.
The Bourgeoisie offers more in the way of quiet wit than the outright hilarity found inThe Cameri Quintet, though it lacks the originality of such other Israeli series as Florentine and Bat Yam-New York. But compared to such well-intentioned failures as The Azani Family or brainless abominations like Shemesh, this a series that is worth catching, that can make its creators proud.
SOME comment should probably made here about this week's Emmy awards show, broadcast on Channel 3.
The big winner was The West Wing, the White House-set drama starring Martin Sheen, which has won critical acclaim abroad. Having seen the series last year in the US I can vouch to its quality (and will properly review it when it starts screening here later this month on cable and the the YES satellite channel), but was disappointed that it won the best drama award over the far superior Mafia series The Sopranos. At least James Gandolfini nabbed the best-drama-actor Emmy for his peerless performance as domesticated gang boss Tony Soprano.
It was also nice to see a sitcom other than Frasier finally win the best-comedy Emmy. Will and Grace is a deserving winner with an excellent supporting cast (Megan Mullally and Sean Hayes rightly took home Emmies) and the most delectable Jewess on US television (Debra Messing) - although personally I would have picked the still fresh and funny Friends, which has been good for so long that it's now taken for granted.
The Emmies now give out so many awards (e.g. The best supporting actor in a miniseries drama adapted from a literary classic and broadcast on Thursday nights in a 30-day month with heavier-than-usual precipitation), that the show seems to drag on as long as the Oscars. The only really entertaining moments came courtesy of some sharp quips by host Gary (The Larry Sanders Show) Shandling.
Best were his remark that he had auditioned for the role of the vice president on The West Wing last year but was rejected because the producers thought him "too Jewish," and this riff on The Sopranos: "My favorite character in The Sopranos is the mother, Livia, who tried to have her own son rubbed out. That's why I love Italian women. If they want to kill their sons, they do it in one shot - while a Jewish mother drags it out over a whole lifetime."
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