Preface: The film was released today and my wife and I were there for the second showing. That's par for the course with films that I'm looking forward to seeing. The film here was.....September 5....which reads as.....September five....and focuses solely on ABC Sports coverage of the hostage drama as it happened during the 1972 Munich Olympics. I'm referring to this as a 'film' rather than a 'movie' because the word 'film' gives it more of an artsy or serious bent. It's only an hour and thirty-five minutes....and focuses on what went on in the temporary ABC studios outside of the Olympic Village....much in the same way that 2023 film....Golda....focused only on the Israeli command centers in the 1973....Yom Kippur War. Here we are again today talking about the release of hostages. The Golda film....which was also excellent....was released in August of 2023....only about eight weeks before the Sukkot attacks. I posted the below....All The Hostages Are Safe....on July 6, 2015....and below that I'll add what I posted the day the film Golda was released in the United States.
All The Hostages Are Safe......posted July 6, 2015
We are coming to the 77th anniversary of the attempted appeasement of Adolph Hitler in the Munich Agreement. The world was on the brink of war and this deal was an ill-advised attempt to hold off Hitler's aggression. Munich would again capture the world's attention 34 years later.
I recently watched a documentary on the Munich Summer Olympics massacre from the first week of September 1972. I had seen the film before and might even be compelled to view it again if the opportunity arose. Murderous hate such as displayed before the world in the Olympic Village almost 43 years to the day from today has since become commonplace, so common that we now not only negotiate with terrorists, we humble ourselves in appeasement to them; but there was one segment of the film that is difficult to dislodge from my mind. Gunfire at the airport had erupted and the world waited. A report came in....all nine Israeli athletes were safe and the terrorists were all killed. Do those of you old enough remember that?
I was in my last few weeks in the army at the time. Having no real duties to speak of, I spent my time playing chess and watching these Olympics. Some newspapers had headlined the news....'All Hostages Safe.' Then ABC's Jim McKay tried to prepare listeners for the truth.....all nine hostages were in fact murdered in the final assault. Nothing of the future is certain other than what God has spoken of in His Word.
The following is a well-known passage from the fifth chapter of Paul's first letter to the Thessalonians..."But concerning the times and the seasons brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them.....' It would behoove all Christians to follow the news of the world with this caveat in mind for it would serve to temper the confidence that most people seem to emote that things may get bad, and maybe set us back in our 401k....but not catastrophic......that just can't happen to us!
GOLDA.....posted in August of 2023
It's not really a biopic of Golda Meir because the film begins the day before the Yom Kippur War began....and basically ends as the war ends....but it was enough....and an hour and forty minutes was about perfect. Golda was released today and we were at the second showing. You're not going to see tanks getting blown up but you will hear the orders barked out and the screams over the military communication radios....and quite frankly....that's a lot harder to deal with. It's more than a good primer on the October 1973 war....and Helen Mirren's characterization of Golda Mirren was incredible....but the reason that you might want to see this movie is that Israel may be in a similar situation in the very near future.
