Munich
By: Mark Runyon | Category: On DVD | 05/11/06 | 01:12 PM
 |  |  Grade: A+ | Genre: Drama/Suspense
Summary: Munich is an important film that speaks as much about the world we live in as it does about the 1970s. It's a blast that is dehumanizing, leaves a litter of questions for every answer and opens up your mind to this senseless struggle that will outlive us all.
Its quite a chore to balance the books on Steven Spielberg's 2005. First, he revisited the sci-fi cornerstone Close Encounters of the Third Kind by importing War of the Worlds into the twenty-first century. It was a sorely lackluster experience, complete with a feel good, Hollywood ending and Tom Cruise battling aliens with his couch jumping skills in basements from sea to shining sea. It can only be described as silly Hollywood excess with Spielberg caught in the crossfire. Now he tries to make it all better, squeezing in his eleventh hour Oscar picture Munich. In doing so he's unveiling what is probably the most important film to come out this year. Munich is a tough film that looks to capture the eternal chaos fought between the Israelis and Palestines in the Gaza Strip, focusing on the impact wrought by one defining event -- Munich. These embattled peoples form one of modern times bloodiest struggles, and one that will never see a resolution as long as new generations of terrorists are born with every brother or father that is incinerated at the hands of a suicide bomber. |
Munich takes on the unenviable tasks of taming this ten-tentacle beast. It seems that the dark days of September were only the beginning of the bloodshed. For those who are unaware, during the 1972 Olympic games in Munich, the Palestinian terrorist organization Black September invaded the dorms of the Israeli athletic team and subsequently massacred the entire squad. The events were superbly cataloged in the stirring documentary One Day in September. Munich picks up where these events left off. The Israeli government commissioned a covert group to carry out the assassination of the eleven individuals who had a hand in planning Munich. Eric Bana (Troy, Hulk) plays Avner who is hand picked by the prime minister and the military elite to undertake this trying mission. He's to be divorced from the homeland that he loves so dearly as well as from his wife (Marie-Josee Croze) and unborn child so he can collect the tears of a grieving nation in hopes of making them whole again. He's assigned a cadre of special ops men to assist him in carrying out the deaths. Once he accepts the mission, his country disavows him as a rouge soldier so his bloody hands won't get stains on the Israeli nation.
 | | | Munich | | Starring: Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Geoffrey Rush, Mathieu Kassovitz, Ciaran Hinds, Hanns Zischler, Mathieu Amalric, Michael Lonsdale, Marie-Josee Croze, Gila Almagor & Lynn Cohen | | Director: Steven Spielberg |
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Each assassination is meticulously laid out and executed by the group, fitting the dual purpose of drawing attention to the planner's death without directly implicating those involved in carrying out the assassination plot. The targets are family men. Men involved in their community. They were foot soldiers fighting for a sovereign Palestine nation whose lives were indiscernibly different from those who are tasked with hunting them down. When the film begins down this path, we feel justice is being carried out on those who would commit such a heinous crime against innocent civilians. As each assassination unfolds, the lines separating the just from the unjust blur to the point where they can't be separated. That's where this film gets very interesting. The splinters of hit men begin to question their mission, and how its goals resolve themselves against the fabric of their Jewish faith. Little by little, these thorny questions begin to wrap around them as their humanity begins to dissolve off their bones. The futility of it all mounts as the men they assassinate are simply replaced by men more dastardly, filled with that much more hatred for killing Israelis.
Soon the hunters become the hunted. It becomes increasingly unclear if their mysterious French informant has a revolving door, not only providing information on their enemies but also to their enemies. Will they survive without a country, performing a mission that slowly losing its pride, pickling their souls?
Eric Bana puts in a tour de force performance as Avner. Never before have we seen him become so completely enveloped in a character. We feel the weight of every agonizing decision. We see him living a life that is a bullet away from leaving his family without a father. We find a man torn between the country he loves, killing in the name of a benevolent God, and a battle that defies understanding. Spielberg delivers one of his most stirring portraits since Schindler's List. His cinematic vision is brilliant. From the lighting and the lush European cinematography to the tight acting and the intricate scene building, Spielberg incorporates every tool in his elaborate toolbox that has made him one of the greatest directors in the history of film. The tension Spielberg builds is fantastic. Each assassination becomes more complex and threatens their safety and anonymity just a little more than the previous one. As with any three-hour film, there are some slow spots. Strangely enough, they work in the film's favor, releasing the tension value just enough to pull the stack of bricks off our chest before we are asked to tackle the next plot.
Munich is an important film that speaks as much about the world we live in as it does about the 1970s. Spielberg brings this vision home by resting the final shot on the Twin Towers, filling out the New York skyline. This film shows that the mind of the terrorist and the man fighting for his country aren't as clear cut as we'd like to imagine. Many times they are exactly the same and which label you affix depends on which side of the battle that you stand. It's a thought-provoking portrait that helps us come to an understanding of the soldiers that live and breathe this struggle between Israel and Palestine. Spielberg has come as close as any filmmaker to capturing this ugly strife in its logic and its insanity. For the full effect of this film, I'd suggest renting One Day in September to get a solid foundation of this horrific event so Munich can employ its full impact. It's a blast that is dehumanizing, leaves a litter of questions for every answer and opens up your mind to this senseless struggle that will outlive us all.
Originally Posted: January 2, 2006
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