Vengeance As Always Seen Before, Just Not Like This

Rating: 10/10 (24 December 2005)

There's so much I want to say about Steven Spielberg's Munich. So much that needs to be said about what the film that he has made. This film that wraps up thousands of years of debate on morality and idealism, layers it with historical reference and atmosphere, and throws on a cautionary tale only to find that there's still more to this film that what meets the eye. I think of Munich not so much like an onion, but a head of cabbage (soft thriller on top but tougher, more bitter moral questions underneath). By the time that we see the final shot, I realize what exactly it is that Spielberg is trying to say.
Munich starts off with the daring heist of the Olympic Village by a terrorist cell of Black September during the 1972 Games. These are not the hard-headed terrorists that we're used to seeing in movies, but kids who are scared but believe they are doing something for "the greater good". The film jumps forward in sprinter's bounds through the next few days as we see the media frenzy, the family reactions, and the officials trying to cope with what is going on. Then it is over, the 11 athletes are killed with Jim McKay's epic words "They're gone" bringing the pain home.
But the film is interested in the aftermath of tragedy as the gears in Israel shift into reciprocity. "Forget peace for now." Golda Meir says to her advisers. They need to show strength, but can't do so with their hands full of blood. That's where men like Avner (Eric Bana) come in handy. He leaves behind his pregnant wife and family to join a secret operation to hunt down 11 "targets" that had a hand in orchestrating Munich. He has a team of four others, unlimited funds in a Swiss bank and "no ties to Israel", but he better "keep his receipts".
For the next few years, they plan a series of hits on their targets, getting better and more violent as they go along. The team isn't used to such cruelty, since none of them are really mercenaries. Even Avner was just a bodyguard before he took the job. Their bomb-maker (Mathieu Kassovitz) is a toy-maker by profession. And they are soon taking deep hard looks at what they are doing. "We're supposed to be righteous" one says in a fit of sadness. Even when they aren't shadowed by paranoia, they still convey in conversation they extraordinary difference between what they were and what they are now doing. And with their every success, Palestine hits back, a macabre dance of death as the old guard is being killed off as the new and more vicious guard takes over. And it's even said that the squads might actually be doing the work of the new guard of the PLO so that they can be in control.
But these are only a couple of the complexities of this film. Government and family dynamics are looked at under a scrutinizing microscope. And the deeper down the rabbit hole we go, we realize that if you replaced the word Munich and put in the phrase 9/11, that we have more in common with Israel than we might want to admit. Especially when the last thing we see before fade out is the twin towers in the background, a not-so-subtle reminder of what we are going through right now in our own country.
Performance-wise, this is a massive achievement in casting. There are no Americans in this cast which is headed by Austrailians Bana (in his best performance ever) and Geoffery Rush, British actors Cirian Hinds and Daniel Craig (yes, the next James Bond) and French actor Kassovitz. They perform wonderfully together and alone. They keep action tight and conversation even tighter. It could easily feel like a Sunday school lesson if it weren't for their performances and the dynamo script penned by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth.
For Spielberg, this film has been a long time coming. If you looked at all of his post-9/11 films, you'll see that they have dealt with portions of the traumatic experience. Minority Report deals with our paranoia, while Catch Me If You Can dealt with our loss of innocence playing dangerous games. The Terminal showed us a look at ourselves from the outside with humor and humility. And even the terrible War of the Worlds showed us the emotional impact of terrorism. But this film adds all of these things in and builds a foundation on all of it. We think that this is the worst thing in the world to happen, when all it really did was break us into what goes on to the rest of the world around us. That's really what Spielburg is trying to say.
There's been a lot said about Spielberg concerning his loyalty to the Jewish community and the Middle East. What he's really doing is making everybody think about the situation going on over there. There are no real victims in that struggle because both sides victimize while playing the victim. I cannot comment about the situation any further because I really don't know enough and I don't want to lead anyone to the impression that I do. But what Spielburg is doing is not drawing conclusions, but observing the behaviors of all sides. Look at the scene where our protagonists spend the night in a "safe house" with a PLO group. You'll see what I mean.
All in all, this is the most important film to see and quite possibly a classic in the post-9/11 era. And I can say with some certainty, this is the best film of 2005.