Between Vengeance and Justice

Rating: 8/10 (7 February 2006)

"Munich" is Steven Spielberg's offering, hoping to tell the story of Black September, a Palestinian terrorist group that triggered a tragedy at the Munich Olympic games of 1972. The attack led to the deaths of eleven Israelis. This led to bloody government-sanctioned retaliation. Eric Bana plays Avner Kaufman, a Mossad agent appointed as leader to a group of men charged with hunting down the terrorists of Black September. The story is bloody, and does not pull any punches. Bana gives a good performance, showing Avner's descent into paranoia. The viewer gets a real sense of what Avner is going through, after overseeing one assassination after another. "Munich" is a dark but story for our time, or for any other.