Spielberg mangles Munich

Rating: 5/10 (25 December 2007)

Steven Spielberg has about as much success with Munich as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain did when he met with Hitler there in 1939. Spielberg uses as his catalyst the 1972 massacre of Israeli Olympic athletes by Palestinian terrorists to deliver a semi-factual rambling disjointed, political, suspense film that tries to have it both ways as statement and entertainment. It fails on both accounts and Spielberg's confusion and indecision is clearly the culprit. The film opens grippingly with with the hostage taking scene at the Olympic Village. Then rather than play out the whole incident, Spielberg jumps to the aftermath, decision making and actions to avenge the killings. For the rest of the film flashbacks of the event shove their way back into the plot with unintended meaning. In a scene where the film's main protagonist makes love to his wife, Spielberg inter cuts the final violent moments of the hostage disaster. We are left to wonder if our hero is tortured or turned on by the event. Spielberg is clearly a cheerleader for Israel but he does attempt to put a human face on the Palestinian plight. Even this however comes across as patronizing and highly contrived in a scene where opposing groups have an uneasy truce at a safe house.
Production values are top notch but it doesn't hide the poor editing and overall plot construction. At two hours forty-five minutes long there's plenty of time for repetitive hits and the rationalizing of such acts that could have been summed up in half the time. But Spielberg is in the act of being profound and drone on it must. The Israeli assassins are all noble and nondescript except for Avner who serves as the conscience of the cell and its actions. He is Spielberg's alter ego displaying a gung-ho hesitance but nevertheless steeling himself to commit morally objectionable acts in order to defend the homeland. The heavy handed Mr.Spielberg hammers this point home in the final scene of Munich with a distant lingering shot of the World Trade Center Towers, a taunting symbol of what our future holds and how the US will react. One is not sure if Munich is an attempt to absolve Israel of its rogue actions in reaction to the PLO, more firmly cement the bond between the two democracies as victims of terrorism or is a merely a plea for all of us to get along. In the end Spielberg's wishy washy approach as well as the abandonment of his renowned editorial skills leave us with a haphazard piece of questionable history that even doubts itself.