Incredible film with a beautiful message

Rating: Null/10 (1 February 2006)

The film starts off at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, Germany. A group of Arab terrorists capture and later murder 11 Israeli athletes. The Israeli community is outraged with the murders and they set out to investigate who planned the massacre, in order to send assassins to settle the score. Eric Bana (who plays Avner) is chosen as the lead assassin and the film takes us on a thrilling, violent and heartbreaking ride watching how Bana and his team accomplish their morbid task and the dangers they go through in order to finish it.
After the film ended, I thought about the reviews that complained it was too cold and detached for their taste. I Don't know why some critics felt nothing because I did care for Eric Bana and his family. At first it's hard to like him for what he's doing, but after we see his remorse, guilt and paranoia(nightmares, trouble sleeping, fear of being murdered) start to kick in as why he's doing what he's doing and if his actions will accomplish anything, I began to care for him. The film also offers great suspense and the haunting score adds depth to it. We know Avner (Bana) is an assassin, he has to kill people and the film builds an unnerving suspense around this; anything can go wrong with the operations and we fear for the life of innocent people such as the target's family or innocent bystanders who have nothing to do with the events in Munich.
Another complain I've seen from a few people is that the film had no point. My guess is they weren't paying attention since Avner (bana) had two discussions with other characters, which clearly show what the film is ultimately about; the discussion with Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) at the end of the film and the discussion with Ali (Omar Metwally) outside the safe-house. I thought the film was made to show how pointless and absurd revenge can be, that violence cannot bring about peace. Group A kills people from Group B and vice versa, but it doesn't stop there, the slain people are replaced the endless cycle of killing continues. This in effect made the film thought-provoking, it makes you think about subjects you wouldn't normally think of or discuss with other people. Thinking about it fills you with sadness since the events in it are in reality still happening and it's sad to see how the two groups (Jews AND Arabs) don't realize that death and violence will continue if they don't learn to listen and forgive others and let the authorities decide what punishment people should get.