Munich

So, I'm home after a week of travel, not wanting to leave my warm house, not wanting to start my taxes. And Munich is on HBO.

While it was not epic in the sense of The Godfather trilogy (or the Lord of the Rings trilogy -- what is it about trilogies?), and while it was not platitudinous in delivering its message, its message was clear.

Violence begets violence. Revenge begets revenge. Blood cries out from the very earth. And the end result is not justice, is not righteousness, is not -- cannot be -- peace. Rather, it is destruction of the self, sacrifice of ones own soul.

I cannot help but be reminded of this passage from Genesis:

Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground. So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.” And Cain said to the LORD, “My punishment is greater than I can bear! Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me.” And the LORD said to him, “Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. (Genesis 4:8-15)

It is alienation: from ones home, from ones people, from God Himself -- and should retribution be taken on such a one so alienated, sevenfold vengeance would be the only result. The absolute entropy, the very metastasis of evil.

The most chilling moment of the whole movie was the final scene: Avner refuses to return to his homeland; Ephraim refuses to break bread with Avner, the simplest affirmation of his humanity; and in the background, tall but achingly vulnerable, the twin towers stand.

But even more chilling than that, scary as hell: when I sat down here, immediately after, to type this out, the headline from my comcast.net home page: Suicide Bomber Kills 121 in Baghdad.

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