Riveting and compelling

Rating: 10/10 (29 December 2005)

Normally not my genre at all, Munich was both thrilling and unflinching while thoughtful and balanced. Only now reading others' comments do I realize it was three hours long. (Although the guys climbing over the seats to use the restroom should have alerted me . . .) The great achievement of this film is its balanced, even-handed treatment of the issues. It doesn't attempt to lay blame or lay out a roadmap. There are no answers, only things to consider. What happens to us, what do we become, when we kill in the "name of righteousness". Is killing ever righteous? What happens when we look our enemy in the eye and hear his grievance? Can we kill him so easily then? Is vengeance worth the continuing cost in violence and mayhem? And what of our outrage being used by our government to make us instruments of their own unspoken agenda? Who wins when we set out, "eye for an eye", and how much of our humanity can we maintain while committing heinous acts in retribution? Note that none of these questions mentions Jews or Palestinians. These are human questions, questions of morality and of our souls and of our survival together on the planet.
Spielberg and Kushner present the facts in a gutwrenching way without trying to drag us to one camp or the other. They weave subtlety into what could at any moment become heavy-handed and belligerent, but doesn't. They force the two sides to look one another in the face, force us to look in the mirror, force us to see the excruciating nuance buried in the stark rubble of black and white thinking. We can continually blow up the other side, forever. And we have. And we probably will.
But we don't have to. And we can't continue without stopping to consider the consequences, the damage to our own souls, the perpetuation of the violence and death.
I'm hearing and reading of people refusing to see this film because they "heard" it was not balanced, or they don't like Spielberg, or they assume Jews can't write and direct a film that looks at the situation without tipping the scales towards Israel.
But the film is not about Israel and the Palestinians. It is about the human heart, the need for safety and identity that expresses itself in the desire for a homeland, desperation and the drive toward vengeance and the toll that they take.
The performances are excellent, especially Eric Bana. And watch for Ayelet Zurer, who was also wonderful in Nina's Tragedies.