What Cinema is for

Rating: 10/10 (28 January 2006)

Taking my seat in the cinema I was lucky. All I knew was that I was about to watch a film made by Steven Spielberg called Munich. Despite enough words written on the film to line a marathon course I had survived without reading any of them. Free from the burden of zealous opinion or prejudice surrounding the film itself I entered only with my own, that the film I was about to witness was created by the master of slushing sentimental slop.
After the first three minutes I revisited this prejudice. Yes this was the director who made "Hook", but this was also the director who made "Duel". Munich was shaping up to be in that class, taught, sharp and no blinks allowed.
This film is the work of a master flexing his muscles. Political and historical accuracy aside and is killing entertainment issues aside Munich is however-long-it-was minutes of invigorating cinematic splendour.
Spielberg masterfully creates a sense of Europe in the seventies and snaps in waves of tension. From the drop dead gorgeous Citroen to the evocative scenes of Rome and beyond this was powerful in your face escapism.
The camera work stylishly framed the story, which clipped along nicely. Casting was perfect, but I think the scene stealer was the French farmhouse of the informer family. This is my kind of getaway! Maybe I'm being overly sloshly and sentimental about Munich, but after all it was a Spielberg film! Only in this production the slosh and slop is kept to an absolute minimum, restraint being played expertly. Whether by accident or by design it worked.
If you are overly sensitive to the fibre thin politics of Israel and Palestine or about calculated revenge and cold blooded killing avoid this film, despite it's excellence. If you can stomach that, go and see this film in the cinema, don't wait for DVD. This is a cinematic treat.