Munich

Starring:

• Eric Bana as Avner
• Daniel Craig as Steve
• Mathieu Amalric as Louis
• Geoffrey Rush as Ephraim

and many other not so famous actors. For complete listing, go to Munich (2005)

BACKGROUND

This is the movie directed by Steven Spielberg based on the 1972 massacre if Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics by 11 Palestinian terrorists.

The terrorist organisation was called Black September. All the 11 terrorists were killed in the shootout at the airport along with 9 Israeli hostages. 2 more Israeli hostages were found dead in the Israeli apartment in the Olympic village.

The demand of the terrorists was that Israel should release 200 prisoners who the terrorists claimed were just political prisoners. The Israeli government of that time decided not to negotiate with the terrorists.

The West German government flew the terrorists and the hostages in 2 choppers to the airport where a plane was waiting to escort the terrorists out of the country.

In the Airport, the german army ambushed the terrorists. In the ensuing shootout, all the terrorists and the remaining hostages were killed.

Many blamed the Israeli government for it's tough stand of no negotiations with terrorists stand.

The Movie

Coming to the movie, it is extremely good. They show a lot of original footage from 1972.

The Storyline

The main story revolves around Eric Bana who is a Mossad operative. His mission is to kill 11 people who were the masterminds behind the planning and execution of the Munich massacre. He is married with a 7-month pregnant wife and is told that if he accepts the mission, he may not be able to return to Israel for years and that he does not officially exist. If he or his temamates are caught, the Israeli government will disown them. He accepts this mission and it somehow gives you the feeling of how much loyalty Avner has towards his country.

Eric Bana is made the leader of a team of 6 people. They have to track down the brains behind the whole operation across Europe. They are banned from entering any Arab country.

The whole movie is based on the way this elite team make contacts, and find out the whereabouts of the terrorists and the way they try to kill them without hurting inoocent people.

My Thoughts

The way Speilberg shows the emotions of the jews and especially Eric Bana is really awesome. The movie at times really moves you.

The one thing I really liked about this movie was that Spielberg does not take sides. He does not conclude the movie by saying that the hews were right or the Arabs were right. He leaves it to the viewer to think about it.

He even presents the Palestinian point of view in a very interesting scene where the Mossad team finds itself sharing a room with some Palestinians(the director does not say if they are terrorists are not but allows you to judge for yourself).

This movie also shows the agony Avner(Eric Bana) goes through in the course of the mission. It shows very well the toll the mission takes on him. In one superb scene, he rips his bedroom apart thinking that someone is trying to kill him and trying to find bombs. Looking in exactly the same places in which his team placed bombs to assassinate their targets.

This movie is quite an easy one to write a review for as there are no spoilers. Any history buff will know that in the end 9 of the 11 people originally on the Mossad's list were killed by Israeli agents.

The movie is shot a lot in dark gloomy places to convey the depressing storyline. The cinematography is excellent.

The Bad

The only sort of lame part which I can think of is near the end of the movie when they are showing the climax of the hostage drama. A lot of the flashback scenes are seen through Avner's imagination. Same holds tru here also. But when he is having s*x with his wife :O. He is imagining the climax of the hostage crisis at the airport and at the same time having s*x with his wife.

I found it a bit lame. There would have been many other ways to show that scene through his imagination at any other time when he was not having s*x

Conclusion

I would say this is one the best Spielberg movies. you cant actually compare this to any of his other movies. For me, this movie shows why Spielberg is considered to be one of the best filmmakers of this era. I have not seen his previous movie "The War of the Worlds" but I have seen this one and am prepared to take a bet that this movie is way better than WOTW.

At some times, the movie is quite graphic. The violence is quite extreme at times. This movie is a very serious movie. Not one of those timepass movies. If you see this movie, you will be bound to think abt the whole issue more after the movie. There are one or two humorous scenes. But they are so small and the tone of the movie is so dark and gloomy that you will soon forget those laughs you had.

All in all, a must watch. I would rate this movie 7/10.