Munich 10/10
After Black September murders eleven Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics in 1972, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meier authorizes the creation of a covert assassination squad to avenge the deaths.
Steven Spielberg has created a masterful work. It is moving without being manipulative, disturbing without being grotesque; it shows great restraint and bravado excess.
The arguments against this film seem to be three: That it is too anti-Israel, that it is too pro-Israel, and that it is historically false. One would hope the very fact that the first two arguments co-exist would cancel them out, but that’s probably optimistic. All three arguments actually boil down to the same thing: Steven Spielberg didn’t make a history lesson, he made a movie. Thus many of the arguments on both sides are simplified, and much important historical information is omittted. Not only would the film have been quite a dull affair had all the background on why the sides are so entrenched been offered, but to Spielberg, it’s beside the point. The film wants to show us that it’s the entrenchment itself that’s the problem, that deeply felt beliefs that persist in causing death and destruction are themselves tragic and dangerous; so to spend much time justifying these beliefs would be a mistake.
The film follows former Mossad agent Avner Kauffman (Eric Bana) as he gradually learns to become an assassain. His team are amateurs, and quite purposely, as known agents would be too visible. The story unfolds as each man gradually finds himself changed by the experience of being a killer.
Here the third argument comes in; the source for this material has supposedly been exposed as a fraud, and Mossad experts decry the inaccuracy of the film. Many films, perhaps all films “based on reality,” receive this criticism, and the intelligent viewer should never mistake fiction for documentary. I think the important question is, is it a good movie, not is it a good history lesson?
Yes. Munich is smart, well-constructed, well-acted, beautifully filmed. The supporting cast (especially Geoffrey Rush, Ciarán Hinds, Michael Lonsdale, and Daniel Craig) is fabulous. The cinematography is sometimes startling. The complexity of the issues raised is honored, while sticking with the emotional tenor of those issues instead of the documentary evidence. This is a film about choices, about doing anything and everything for one’s family, about needing home above all else, about compromise, about violence, and about fighting for what one knows is right, and how fighting changes the nature of “right.”
Munich is not without its flaws. Towards the end, as Kauffman is more and more troubled by his experience, Bana overacts, and the “hollow” makeup is overdone, until we feel we’re looking at a zombie. Spielberg can’t decide how to end his film, so we get all the endings, almost to the Return of the King level. With all those endings, we find out the final fate of only four of the five team members; Steve’s (Daniel Craig) fate is left untold.
What you really want to know is what I, Bond expert that I am, think of Craig. Well, he’s sexy despite that face, he’s strong, he’s a fine actor, but I’m still not getting ‘the vibe.’ And the blond hair really stands out. As you watch a group of men walking and you think “Wow, that guy is very, very blond.” He’s so visible.
As a Bond fan, I was more impressed by Michael Lonsdale (Hugo Drax from Moonraker). I’ve never liked his Bond performance, or anything else I saw in the 70s (and I’ve never seen Ronin), so I was amazed at his strength and presence.
