Monument isn’t the worst movie this year that represents the cinematic comeback of a #MeToo-disgraced director, who previously did work in the X-Men series, and spent at least some of his exile living in Israel. Then again, Bryan Singer was always a much better filmmaker than Brett Ratner. And since it’s about Israel, Monument might be a rare film in which the director’s #MeToo history isn’t the most controversial aspect.
Monument, which received a modest theatrical release this past weekend, tells the story of a minor, mostly unknown episode in Israeli history. It’s a well-produced and well-put-together treatment of the story, and with Israel once again moving into Lebanon, it wins points for timeliness. But it also leaves a lot out.
Set in Israel and Lebanon in 1999, Monument focuses on the waning days of Israel’s occupation of Southern Lebanon, during Benjamin Netanyahu’s first term as prime minister. The two protagonists are father-and-son Israeli architects, the legendary Yaakov Rechter (Jon Voight) and his son Amnon (Joe Mazzello, who resembles Pauly Shore). The two are offered a unique commission: To create a monument inside Lebanon, for the soldiers killed in the Lebanese civil war.
In the film’s most intriguing element, the father and son have differing views, with Amnon more of a liberal who says things like “Lebanon is our Vietnam,” while his elderly father is conservative. Amnon suggests making it a tribute to soldiers of all religions who lost their lives in that war, including Christians and Muslims. The government, surprisingly, approves, although the project runs into hurdles. Not the least of which is that the project requires numerous visits to Lebanon along what’s known as the “Death Road.”
It’s something of an intriguing story that borrows several pages from The Brutalist, including making the protagonist an exacting Jewish architect who feuds with his patrons. It’s also aping Steven Spielberg’s Munich, although not operating at anywhere near that level.
Monument steps wrongly in a few other ways. Amnon spends the first half of the movie lying to his wife (Aviv Pinkas) about the project, which seems like an attempt to manufacture drama. Also, we see a Lebanese kid wearing a Dwyane Wade Miami Heat Jersey, when Wade was still in high school in 1999 and wouldn’t be drafted by the Heat until 2003.
More damningly, you’d think from this film that the conflict between Israel and Lebanon was the most important crisis at the time, while the Israel/Palestine conflict is barely mentioned, even though pretty much everything, like the collapse of the Oslo process, was going on.
The film’s politics are essentially liberal Zionist, and in favor of inclusion and peace—not the most fashionable or ascendant viewpoint now, but one I happen to share. It’s the sort of film that could be made by a lefty, anti-Netanyahu Israeli filmmaker, the kind that gets a run on the Jewish film festival circuit in the United States.
But Monument was directed not by an Israeli, but by Bryan Singer, long an A-list Hollywood director, who made The Usual Suspects, two X-Men movies, and one Superman movie. Singer was dogged by years of rumors, and while he hasn’t been convicted of any crimes, the “sexual assault allegations” section of his Wikipedia entry is expansive.
In 2017, when the #MeToo movement was gaining steam, Singer was directing the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, although he reportedly made himself scarce on set and was ultimately fired, while maintaining his directorial credit. The film emerged the next year as an awards contender, with no one mentioning Singer’s name in their speeches; John Ottman, who’d edited all of Singer’s movies, won an Oscar, presumably for helping to salvage the film into releasable condition.
Monument shows that Singer’s still capable of delivering a competent if middling film with something to say. But whether he should still be making films is a separate question.