It starts with the writer-it's a familiar dictum, but somehow it keeps getting forgotten along the way. No film-maker, irrespective of his electronic bag of tricks, can ever afford to forget his commitment to the written word.
Steven SpielbergRead
Naturally, it is a terrible, despicable crime when, as in Munich, people are taken hostage, people are killed. But probing the motives of those responsible and showing that they are also individuals with families and have their own story does not excuse what they did.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the complexity of understanding human actions, even in the face of terrible crimes, while not justifying those actions.
In this quote, Steven Spielberg addresses the tragic events in Munich, where individuals were taken hostage and killed. He emphasizes that while it is important to understand the motivations of the perpetrators, such understanding does not absolve them of their heinous crimes. This reflects a philosophical exploration of morality, accountability, and the balance between empathy for the human experience and the condemnation of violence.
Themes
CrimeUnderstandingMoralityEmpathyViolence
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about terrorism and the individual's role in society.
More from Steven Spielberg
All quotes →When I was a kid, there was no collaboration; it's you with a camera bossing your friends around. But as an adult, filmmaking is all about appreciating the talents of the people you surround yourself with and knowing you could never have made any of these films by yourself.
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I just had a crazy, wild imagination all my life, and science fiction is the greatest outlet for me.
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From a very young age, my parents taught me the most important lesson of my whole life: They taught me how to listen. They taught me how to listen to everybody before I made up my own mind. When you listen, you learn. You absorb like a sponge - and your life becomes so much better than when you are just trying to be listened to all the time.
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I wanted to do another movie that could make us laugh and cry and feel good about the world. I wanted to do something else that could make us smile. This is a time when we need to smile more and Hollywood movies are supposed to do that for people in difficult times.
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There are so many rumours about so many of us in the public eye. Sometimes it's too hard to deny what is not true.
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