Flawed as history, but still powerful entertainment

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2006)

This is my second full viewing of this film, this one at home. Just a few days ago I watched "Syriana" again and I've had time to let the two contrasting films move about in my memory. After watched Munich I downloaded a bunch of comments that author George Jonas contributed earlier this year, relating to his involvement (largely non-involvement) in the development of the film. Much has been said about how unhappy he was at how his book was somewhat refurbished into a polished Spielberg vehicle, almost unrecognizable to him. He also said that the film as a film was very good, even if not the idea he had in mind if his book was to one day become a film. I must say that I have yet to see another film version of his book, "The Sword of Gideon", although I hear it is also a must see.
"Munich" has stuck Jew and non-Jew in a deep and sensitive place, causing much gnashing of teeth and strongly worded condemnations as well as praise. I don't recall this level of negativity or recrimination when "Schindler's List" came out. Among my fellow Jews it sounded much more like the fulminations and frothing that came with the release of "The Last Temptation of Christ".
The film should make us ask questions and I'm not sure that the debate has become any more clear. Certainly Spielberg (maybe not Jonas) has forced us to consider the following: in the face of outright terrorist murders, is a state well recommended to seek total revenge, tit for tat, an eye for an eye? Even more: has this mentality brought about any increase of good, any lowering of tensions, any more common grounds between the combatants? What, he asks, has been the net result of many years of reprisals? These questions alone were enough to make many Jews totally outraged at Spielberg. How, they thought, did he have the gall to even question the motives? To make the Mossad agents have a conscience, even though not completely the same one or shared, made them look weak, at least in the eyes of those who thought and still do believe that revenge in such cases is totally appropriate. Never mind, the other side will argue, how in the long run it has proved to be counter-productive; with each form of terrorist group that is attacked, the next incarnation is double the level of terror and murder. So, what can be done to evacuate everyone from this dark hole that vacuums in the best of intentions of all people? What else can be done when such outrageous terror is committed? I'm not sure that Spielberg has an answer. I don't think that he intended to sit on a soapbox and argue that Israel was wrong at the time of the Munich murders to seek revenge. Given the environment of Israel and the surrounding countries, doing nothing, acting like passive Buddhist monks is not what Spielberg had in mind. However, he is also saying that more of the same is also not working.
So, what are we left with? Never mind that he humanizes many of the terrorists. When we are engulfed in self righteous indignation, it is easy to emotionally profit by making the "other" a monster and twisting them into non-human entities, making them dehumanized to the ultimate extent. That only blinds the hateful into being drawn into the same dance as the perpetrators. After so many years, Spielberg has the gall to say, who now is the perpetrator and who the victim? It's all been blurred into a wasteful bloody noise and it just gets worse all the time.
In closing for now, let us remember please that this is a film, not a documentary. We need to be reminded of this from time to time because we tend to get carried away with our emotional attachments to the side we feel is most correct, righteous. With God on our side we can do no wrong and we can feel as justified in the destruction of our enemies. However, we also have to remember that seen from a birds eye view, everyone involved is thinking the same thoughts. That's only one reason that this deadly dance goes on and on. There are many reasons. The film only points our attention at some but not all of the issues. It's a powerful drama, "borrowed" from Jonas's book. It is not the first or the last word on the subject. But, it's worth watching because it will shake you just where you need to be stirred.