The price of vengeance

Rating: 8/10 (23 May 2013)

In the aftermath of the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 Avner, a Mossad agent is given a mission: he is to go to Europe and, with four other men, hunt down the eleven people he has been told organised the atrocity. Israel might not have the death penalty but it has been decided that these men must die; a message must be sent to the terrorists that if they attack Israel they can expect no mercy. As the team learns the whereabouts of their targets they travel all over Europe. It is not an easy job; killing does not come naturally to them but they do it for their country. As time passes they begin to wonder whether or not it is worth it; each person they kill is quickly replaced and also leads to further attacks against Israelis. Over time they themselves become targets; which leads to paranoia; could their contact be betraying them or have they crossed swords with another security service? This Paranoia ultimately leads to Anver starts to wonder whether the people on his list had anything to do with Munich at all perhaps Mossad was just using Munich as an excuse to eliminate some enemies.
Before watching this I half expected it to be a revenge thriller but it was more than that; rather than getting satisfaction from the killings Avner and most of the team start to question what they are doing and it begins to take an emotional toll. When they set out they believed they were the good guys but as time passes they start to wonder whether they are all that different from their targets. This doesn't feel like an action film either; there is no exciting music to accompany the action and what they do is shown as being frightening not exciting. Director Steven Spielberg does a fine job keeping the story interesting without glorifying the actions and Eric Bana does a great job portraying Avmer as an increasingly tormented man. Overall I'd say this is well worth watching if you want a solid drama but don't expect it to be like an action movie where you can cheer for a hero who knows he is doing the right thing.