AP Apparently Distorted Munich Widows' Endorsements

Steven Spielberg's controversial new movie, "Munich," about the 1972 Olympic massacre and its aftermath, got an unlikely endorsement Wednesday ? the widows of two of the 11 slain Israeli athletes said the film neither dishonored their husbands' memories nor tarnished their country's image.

"The movie respects the athletes," said Ilana Romano, widow of weightlifter Yosef Romano. She and Ankie Spitzer, who was married to the fencing coach Andre Spitzer, are the only Israelis to see the movie here before its official release late next month. The film opens in the U.S. Friday.

Spielberg's co-producer, Kathleen Kennedy, and the movie's screenwriter, Tony Kushner ("Angels in America") arrived in Israel earlier this month to hold a private screening for the two widows. That was followed by an emotional discussion that lasted several hours, the women said.

Rekhess-Spitzer has since seen the movie. Her comment: the book on which it was based, Vengeance: "always read like fiction to me."

She believes that the film uses the Munich massacre and the follow-up campaign to stop the terrorists to illustrate the folly of violent retaliation, and that for her the "comparison is thin." She continued in the interview,

It is basically a post-9/11 anti-war film. I told this to Kathleen Kennedy (the producer). She did not deny it. Only Munich is not Iraq. Our athletes went to compete in the Olympic Games and were murdered in cold blood, and nobody was willing to lift a finger to locate or punish the killers. Something had to be done.