What is the price when fighting for one's home?

Rating: 8/10 (27 September 2013)

5 minutes into Munich, and Spielberg proves that he is one of the most gripping directors in this lavish, rich, and textured drama. The tragedy of the 1972 Munich Olympics is realistically portrayed in a gruesome and unapologetic fashion. As the film opens, the beating sounds of drum machines fills the air, and we helplessly watch as a dozen men are helped to scale the fence housing the Olympic athletes. We sit riveted as the would-be terrorists unveil their weapons from their bags, and plan to throw away their lives to commit mass murder.
And so Munich goes on, unflinchingly, to realize the after effects of the Black September attacks, and the Israeli response to the aggression. Avner, played convincingly by Eric Bana, is a three dimensional human being. He and the rest of his crew are ready to assassinate their targets without remorse, but he has strong family values and an unwavering love for his country. And so he goes unquestioningly, at the beck and heed of his superiors. What starts out as an optimistic mission of extracting justice on their enemies soon deteriorates into a world of paranoia and endless violence for these characters, many of whom meet gruesome ends. Avner is not recognized by Mossad, or the military, and doesn't even exist to his country. He is off the record, an amoral cog operating in political world. As a result, this isolation from any real ideology sabotages his sanity.
Munich illustrates that the wars of today are fought between secret armies, and spies spying on spies. Eventually it becomes hard to tell where the enemy is, and where the pointless violence begins and ends. The only other people choosing to be apolitical in this conflict, like the French team of Louis and Papa, say they are in it to protect their family. And yet, they count the hundreds of thousands of dollar bills that Avner gives to them in exchange for the heads of Arab sympathizers. The money follows the fighting, and shows how a war of ideologies has been hijacked by factions looking to make a profit. Honor and integrity come at a high price for everyone involved.
As the body count piles up, Avner and the audience begin to wonder. At what price does the fight for home and family become too much? It becomes clear that even when Avner is reunited with his family, he comes home to an apathetic Israel, and even his family life is haunted by the trauma of his deeds.
Munich details a world where extra-judicial killings mean that terms like "justice" and "righteousness" become useless and ill-defined words that have no place. All parties soon become apparent pawns in a game of politics between nations. By the end of the film, Avner, living in exile in New York, is told by his superiors to "come home." But it's apparent that he doesn't have a home to come back to.