This is one gruesome and haunting political thriller.

Rating: 8/10 (16 April 2006)

Munich follows the story of the 1972 assassination at the Olympic games in Munich, Germany. A group of 11 Israeli athletes was kidnapped and murdered by a group of Palestinians, known as Black September. The Israeli intelligence agency Mossad was determined to find and eliminate the people who executed the attack Therefore Mossad sent five men who were all trained professionals for specific fields, erased their entire data and provided them with large funds. Their mission was to find the members of Black September on the territory of Western Europe and eliminate them one by one.
The film is specifically marked by Spielberg's precise handling and direction. Using long shots, slow zooms and other techniques he intentionally made it look like it was made in the 1970's. The set-design really deepens the sense of being there at that time and place in Europe. As we follow the group of five men, they shortly tracked down and murdered the first one of their targets. Every time they search for someone they move to a new location. They're paying large amounts of money to a source named Louie who provides them with precise info about the identities and whereabouts of their targets. But despite the incredible accuracy of their source, certain members of the group are becoming more and more paranoid and start to doubt about the justification of their mission. Particularly the group's leader, Avner. His head is becoming fuller with horrible images and even fictions about what really happened to the Israeli hostages on that faithful day.
There are at least three parts of the film I would like to stress out. First is the incredible throat-grabbing paranoia that is rising within the group. The danger of their work becomes evident when it's clear that their as much of an easy target as their victims are. The second stress would be about the gruesome and uncompromising graphic depiction of violence. It made me feel repulsive but simultaneously related to the guilt in Avner's head. The third thing that deserves a point out is the performing of all the characters which stays sober and never goes off the tracks to the very end. One thing is also interesting, it's how Avner is unable to recognize himself with the consequences of the mission. Facts just don't matter to him, rationalizing doesn't do him any good. He simply finds no legitimate reason for what he's done. To me this makes Munich a more or less unbiased statement about the events that it described. Besides Brokeback Mountain this is easily the most touching, haunting and quality film I've seen to come out of 2005 (so far).
........ +4/5 ........