Gripping, shocking, unflinching, pessimistic, unforgettable

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 2006)

For the past few years (since the Kubrick-inspired A.I., to be more precise), Steven Spielberg's production has started to show a more pessimistic reflection on what is going on in the world. Still, these films had some sort of happy ending. Munich doesn't. It's Spielberg's most violent and shocking opus so far, a voyage into the bleakest parts of the human soul.
The movie begins with the kidnapping and assassination of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich, 1972. The entire world watches this event in horror on TV, while Israeli PM Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) makes a very controversial decision: those responsible for the massacre will not get away with it. And this is when the film really kicks off: Avner Kaufman (Eric Bana) and four other Mossad agents (Mathieu Kassovitz, Daniel Craig, Ciaràn Hinds and Hanns Zischler) are sent to Europe to track down and coldly execute 11 men, all involved in the Munich attack. Those five agents are initially eager to serve their country, only to become exactly like the very people they're meant to kill: each murder is expertly planned and committed, without any remorse. Avner and his men won't realize the truth (violence leads only to more violence) until it's too late.
That's the aspect Spielberg's most interested in: under the disguise of a gripping, merciless thriller (which the film is) lies a painful reflection on how monstrous a person can be. When we first see Avner, he's an ordinary man who's about to be a father (one of the director's trademarks), as well as an enthusiastic patriot. Two hours into the movie, he's a paranoid murderer, afraid of the fact that someone, perhaps even his boss (the remarkable Geoffrey Rush), might try to hurt his family. He accepted his assignment without any questions, only to be left alone with his doubts: what if his actions won't change anything? What if the war will go on once he's done his job? Spielberg stated this film is a "prayer for peace", and he's right, by proving violence isn't the best means to obtain it.
Most people will say Munich is the most unusual Spielberg movie in that it has no happy ending. That's not really correct. The truth is it has no real ending at all. It's probably the most shocking aspect of this masterpiece: after two-and-a-half emotionally exhausting hours of pain, anger and death, there's no sign of joy or reconciliation. The 9/11 parallels, hinted at in previous pictures, emerge in an all their brutality come the desperate epilogue: some wars can't end, not even on film.