I have NPR’s "Fresh Air" on as I work: an interview with actor Eric Bana. Host Terry Gross played that bitter scene in Munich, in which the Bana Mossad agent anti-hero Avner, expresses his disgust at his butchery, "I killed seven men."
Avner soon asks in despair, "Did we accomplish anything at all?," then, later, "There’s no peace at the end of this, no matter what you believe. You know this is true."
Mossad boss: "…You’re a sabra, your wife and daughter are sabras. What I came to say is this, ‘Come home.’" [Return to Israel from Brooklyn, where Avner's secreted himself and his family, as well as his tormented conscience.]
Long pause.
Avner: "Come to my house for dinner tonight. Come on, you’re a Jew, You’re a stranger, It’s written some place or other that I’m meant to ask you to come and break bread with me. So, [urgently] break bread with me, Effraim."
Short pause.
Boss refuses, "No."
Does Terry Gross ask about the deadly cycle of violence that Munich depicts or the nighmares Avner suffers? No: she asks about accents, "You’re an Australian," "Was it hard to get the Israeli accent?" Gross moves from the trivial to the insulting, suggesting that we in the U.S. are unselfconscious bigots:
"Americans don’t think of themrselves as having an accent. We think of ourselves as being, like, the default setting. You know, British people have accents, Australian people have accents, but we don’t. [Chuckle]"
Then Terry asks what marks a yank accent, and gets flattery, "I think you speak very well," before Bana’s amusing imitations of "lazy" Australian and American accents.
Terry does not ask Bana what I most hoped to hear: how he interprets the meaning of Munich‘s haunting lines, as well as the story altogether. No mention of the controversial accusations of "anti-Semitism" that greeted the film or whether Bana faced any consequences in the U.S. for his role. I just found out Bana’s real name is "Eric Banadinovich." I wish Terry had asked him about his change of name.
Not surprising. Gross never criticizes Israel, ever.
Robert Siegel, who I am guessing is Jewish, is surprisingly open to treating Israel like any other country. He allows criticisms, asks a tough question every now and then, but doesn’t permit senseless anti-Semitic questions. He’s an interesting guy.
Gross is the opposite.
Even funnier is that Jon Stewart, who I caught last night, is perhaps the only quasi-mainstream guy who treats Israel like any other country, too.
Jon Stewart is much more objective than Phil Maher on Israel. Otherwise, seems all the stand-up comedians know enough to “not pick on the Jooze.” At most a self-identified jewish comedian will pretend a few shallow jibes at his her own community of origin before getting to the meat, the
scathing barbs.
Sarah Silverman exploits her cute & innocent girl presence to toss
out juvenile scatology and anti-PC, & holocaust jokes. She counts on her
physical appearance to let the audience know she does not really meant it;
she also counts on an assumption of class naivety. When a pretty girl farts
in your face, how many times can she do it before it’s no longer funny, but
simply annoying?
Here is a great review of another Terry Gross interview.