Spielberg at the top of his game

Rating: 10/10 (20 April 2007)

ET wanted to go home, and Elliot missed having a father. In Jaws, the father wants to find his son. In Minority Report, the Dad wants to find his son, ditto the Dad in War of the Worlds, and the Mum in Close Encounters. In Terminal, Tom Hanks wants to go home. In Saving Private Ryan, they want to bring the son home to his mother. Spielberg unashamedly explores the same theme of family and belonging in the vast majority of his movies. Sometimes he gets it spectacularly right - ET; at other times it falls flat on its face - AI. In Munich, his passion for this theme reaches its crescendo as he flawlessly blends the micro and the macro: the Israelis as children looking for their lost home (mirrored by the displaced Palestinians), and Avner roaming the globe but longing to be with his wife and daughter. What makes Munich such a special cinematic experience is that Spielberg manages to hold in check the sentimentality that so damages his other work. In Minority Report, Samantha Morton gives a speech to Tom Cruise about all the possible futures his son could have had, an embarrassing gush of sentimental tripe. But in Munich, Avner breaks ranks to be with his wife when she gives birth, but his sentimental words are undercut by her teasing; the scene plays out realistically, touchingly, and devoid of sentimentality. It is almost a post-modern apology from Spielberg for the excesses of previous work. There isn't a missed beat in Munich. My God, those transitions - the attention to detail is breath-taking.
I was struck watching Spielberg on The Actors' Studio when he said that he is aware of Spielberg the icon, an entity separate from himself, that people criticise or deify, but that as Spielberg the man he is removed from that and suffers over every film. That is reassuring to hear from the most successful and celebrated filmmaker of our times. Clearly Munich is a result of this process of reflection and self-doubt. The day Spielberg relaxes, film-making will suffer. Long may the rigour and self-examination that produced Munich continue.