Munich
2005 – Steven Spielberg
Rated R: 164 minutes
Vault Rating: 7.5
I remember the 1972 Olympic Games. I mean, I was almost 11 years old and I specifically recall some of the archival footage in Steven Spielberg’s new release on video, “Munich.”
A Palestinian group called Black September had taken 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage in an attempt to bring the world’s attention to the Palestinian plight. All of the Olympians and all of the perpetrators were killed in a fire-fight at a German airport.
In my world, it was the first terrorist act of the modern era. It is a testament to the stupidity of men that, more than 30 years later, the same conflict is still at the heart of world affairs.
It was strange for me to see it play out again as an adult. It was weird watching the likes of Howard Cosell and the “Wide World of Sports” team report live from the scene of an event where the shape of things to come was being written.
It was doubly weird to see a Spielberg film that includes the director’s odd mea culpa prior to the film. Why Spielberg, who has arguably done more through his art for the Jewish community than anyone on Earth, had to explain himself at the outset boggles my mind. Perhaps even Steven doesn’t want to anger the wrong people.
To be fair to the great director, though, he is willing in this film to show the masters and perpetrators of the endless cycle of terror as family men, husbands and fathers. It is a decidedly more humane approach, I think, and perhaps a tack that some should take toward understanding our world of violence for violence.
The film is based on the novel “Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team” by George Jonas, which Spielberg considers authoritative.<o:p></o:p>
Ask anyone about the Israeli response and, if they have passing knowledge, they will tell you in hushed tones how the Mossad, the Israeli secret service, hunted down and executed those who planned the Munich attack.<o:p></o:p>
Now that’s how you fight the war on terror, baby. Or is it?
Spielberg delves deeper, examining the lives of the five-man Mossad hit squad as well as the politics that motivated it. Much of the intrigue here revolves around shady European characters with lots of contacts on many sides of any given fight. There are KGB, CIA and freelance players keeping tabs around every corner in cities throughout Europe as, one by one, alleged Palestinian leaders are eliminated.
The field of play is viewed through the eyes of the Mossad group leader, Avner (Eric Bana), who is the son of an Israeli war hero. Once he has accepted the mission – to hunt down and kill the 11 planners of the Munich attack – he has forever bid farewell to his family and his peace of mind.
Assassins as family men is a new take on the subject, don’t you think? And Avner longs for evidence to show that the murders they commit are justified. In the final analysis, though, even these men must take on faith the intelligence of their superiors. An assassin, we find, is only as good as the secret service that sent him.
Spielberg, through this exciting film, seems to be questioning the legitimacy of answering violence with violence. And he pokes at the myth that has been built around the Mossad response. Because in all myths, key details tend to get left out. “Munich” attempts to put them back in.
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And until the world runs out of assassins … Enjoy!
