Munich (2006)

At its core, Munich is a straightforward thriller. Based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, it’s built on a relatively stock movie premise, the revenge plot: innocent people are killed, the bad guys got away with it, and someone has to make them pay. But director Steven Spielberg uses that as a starting point to delve into complex ethical questions about the cyclic nature of revenge and the moral price of violence. The movie starts with a rush. The opening portrays the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by PLO terrorists at the 1972 Olympics with scenes as heart-stopping and terrifying as the best of any horror movie. After the tragic incident is over and several of the terrorists have gone free, the Israeli government of Golda Meir recruits Avner (Eric Bana) to lead a team of paid-off-the-book agents to hunt down those responsible throughout Europe, and eliminate them one-by-one (in reality, there were several teams). It’s physically and emotionally messy work, and conflicts between Avner and his team’s handler, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), over information Avner doesn’t want to provide only make things harder. Soon the work starts to take its toll on Avner, and the deeper moral questions of right and wrong come into play, especially as it becomes clear that Avner is being hunted in return, and that his family’s safety may be in jeopardy.

By all rights, Munich should be an unqualified success--it has gripping subject matter relevant to current events; it was co-written by one of America’s greatest living playwrights (Tony Kushner, Angels in America) and an accomplished screenwriter (Eric Roth); it stars an appealing and likeable actor in Eric Bana; and it was helmed by Steven Spielberg, of all people. While it certainly is a great movie, it falls just short of the immense heights such talent should propel it to. This is due more to some questionable plot devices than anything else (such as the contrived use of a family of French informants to locate the terrorists). But while certain aspects ring hollow, the movie as a whole is a profound accomplishment, despite being only "inspired by true events," and not factually based on them. From the ferocious beginning to the unforgettable closing shot, Munich works on a visceral level while making a poignant plea for peace, and issuing an unmistakable warning about the destructive cycle of terror and revenge. As one of the characters intones, "There is no peace at the end of this." --Daniel Vancini Amazon.com

Bloody Aftermath

"Israeli terrorist are called `commandos', Arab commandos are called `terrorist'."
--George Carlin

"And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn."
--Zechariah 12: 9-10

What dose God do with his warriors that defend Israeli? Dose he reward them with great riches and peaces and happiness? Why no! At lest not in Stephen Spielberg's take on Operation Wrath of God, the Israeli respond for the 1972 massacre by the Black September Movement that caused the violent death of eleven Israeli wrestlers.

Mossad agent Avner Kaufman is tasked as God's avenging hand, he and four other men systematically take out a series of men believed to have planned the Munich massacre. Like the a stealthy predator these man invoke God's promise to punish those to raise their hand against his chosen land. However has the team movies up the food chain they see that their actions have not in way made Israeli safer, it seems that with everyone of the Munich planner's they kill, another strike is made at Israeli, letter bombs, a man machine gun spraying people at an airport, and even Avner team becomes the target of retaliation.

Instead of being reward for his defense of Israeli Avner becomes paranoid, ripping apart his room, looking for traps and sleeping in the closet. He becomes disillusion with his mission and disillusion with Israeli, he sees a never ending cycle of violence that he doesn't want to be a part of.

Spielberg graphically illustrates that futility of clandestine counter-terrorism operations, for every man that they killed another comes in their place. The weight on Avner shoulders becomes so great that he even begins to question the legitimacy of the evidence that they are killing the right men. As he walks away from his Mossad handler for the last time in Brooklyn, the Twin Towers can be seen in the background.

Ones views on this movie depends on how one views the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. So say the Spielberg is glorifying the "Israeli killer" and demonizing the "Palestinian heroes". Other say the exact opposite that Munich is trying to humanize the Palestinians and demonize the Israelis. I think it dose neither; this is a film that says `violence only begets more violence.'



November 11, 2008

More horrible direction from Spielberg and a pathetic pseudo-psychological script

Good grief, what a load. Get this: after Palestinian terrorists murdered a large group of Israeli athletes at the Olympics (this actually happened) the Israeli version of the CIA, the Mossad (according to Spielberg's pathetic mental gyrations) selected a small group of untrained assassins to locate and kill the terrorists, wherever they were. And oh! the anguish these assassins suffered! Vey is mier! Poor tortured souls they were! Murder most foul! Revenge--is this Jewish? Mammanyu! The only person who actually acts in this movie is the superb French actor Mathieu Amalric whom you may know from The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is which he is stupendous. Congratulations to him for obviously not listening to a word Spielberg told him. Oh, and the musical score. To poop on. September 12, 2008

not good

not interisting for me it give you view one side to bleam the other side August 29, 2008

Important issues raised

People have done a good job of explaining plot points. I will just say that this is a thoughtful movie that doesn't give any easy answers. Can we really divide the world between good and evil? And if there is a good side, do acts of revenge keep the 'good' from going evil? Slight criticisms. The movie is long and many scenes seem drawn out. The dialog is not outstanding and the plot and acting drive the movie along. The end scene which is controversial, no spoilers, was not to my liking. It was too heavy handed. Munich was a tragedy and the act of killing atheletes was an evil act. However did Israel strike back with too much force? What led up to the act. How many Palestines believed the killings would help their cause. Many more questions to ponder in a time when we are looking for quick 30 second answers. August 24, 2008

A bit of a plodder

The subject is so heavy and Speilberg does nothing to make it lighter. Did this really happen this way? Evidently, reality was pretty close, though we don't know for sure because the Israeli hit squad has never been acknowledged, has it? A docudrama about an episode that's still hard to believe happened so many years ago. August 19, 2008

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