Munich (Widescreen Edition)

Average customer rating: 4.0

Lest We Forget
Spielberg clarifies on the DVD
Well done, but has flaws.
Speilberg made the movie he set out to make when he chose 'Vengeance'
Hindsight provides 20-20 vision

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Munich (Widescreen Edition)
Starring: Eric Bana , Daniel Craig , Ciarán Hinds , Mathieu Kassovitz , and Hanns Zischler
Director: Steven Spielberg
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Product Group: DVD
Binding: DVD
ASIN: B000F1IQN2
2006-05-09

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At its core, Munich is a straightforward thriller. Based on the book Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team by George Jonas, it's built on a relatively stock movie premise, the revenge plot: innocent people are killed, the bad guys got away with it, and someone has to make them pay. But director Steven Spielberg uses that as a starting point to delve into complex ethical questions about the cyclic nature of revenge and the moral price of violence. The movie starts with a rush. The opening portrays the kidnapping and murder of Israeli athletes by PLO terrorists at the 1972 Olympics with scenes as heart-stopping and terrifying as the best of any horror movie. After the tragic incident is over and several of the terrorists have gone free, the Israeli government of Golda Meir recruits Avner (Eric Bana) to lead a team of paid-off-the-book agents to hunt down those responsible throughout Europe, and eliminate them one-by-one (in reality, there were several teams). It's physically and emotionally messy work, and conflicts between Avner and his team's handler, Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush), over information Avner doesn't want to provide only make things harder. Soon the work starts to take its toll on Avner, and the deeper moral questions of right and wrong come into play, especially as it becomes clear that Avner is being hunted in return, and that his family's safety may be in jeopardy.

By all rights, Munich should be an unqualified success--it has gripping subject matter relevant to current events; it was co-written by one of America's greatest living playwrights (Tony Kushner, Angels in America) and an accomplished screenwriter (Eric Roth); it stars an appealing and likeable actor in Eric Bana; and it was helmed by Steven Spielberg, of all people. While it certainly is a great movie, it falls just short of the immense heights such talent should propel it to. This is due more to some questionable plot devices than anything else (such as the contrived use of a family of French informants to locate the terrorists). But while certain aspects ring hollow, the movie as a whole is a profound accomplishment, despite being only "inspired by true events," and not factually based on them. From the ferocious beginning to the unforgettable closing shot, Munich works on a visceral level while making a poignant plea for peace, and issuing an unmistakable warning about the destructive cycle of terror and revenge. As one of the characters intones, "There is no peace at the end of this." --Daniel Vancini

Customer Reviews:

Lest We Forget.......2007-06-05

"They're all gone," intones sportscaster Jim McKay. McKay and other ABC news folks of 1972 have their TV footage mixed with a quick montage of violent filmed movie scenes of the '72 Olympics where 11 Israeli Olympians were massacred by the Arab Black September group.

Five men led by a young Israeli named Avner are assembled to revenge the massacre of the Munich Olympians. The Munich Avengers hook up with a family that has been in private intelligence since the Vichy Government ran France during World War Two. Lebel (Michael Lonsdale) is its patriarch. He becomes a sage to the Five. "Never work for any government" he warns. Well, its a little late to change that just now. At first everything goes swimmingly. The movie looks like other well made thrillers. These 'pros' who have never exactly done this kind of work in their lives 'seem' very successful.

Thriller afficionados will remember Michael Lonsdale as the French inspector who traced assassin Edward Fox across France in the Day of the Jackal 33 years ago. Older and heavier, Lonsdale is right at home as patriarch of the French family aiding the Israeli assassins in targeting their victims.

The Israelis find themselves sharing a room in Athens with five Arab Assassins but arrange a truce by convincing the Arabs they are part of the German Beider-Meinhof gang. Avner discusses middle east morality and politics with the Arab gang leader. Avner is seen by the audience as losing that argument. Later the forger has to 'fix' a foiled murder attempt in a hotel room. He is wounded. Several of the Arabs Avner's crew boarded with are killed in a gunfight outside. Carl (Cirian Hands) is murdered in bed later by a comely prostitute after Avner has turned the woman down. The Israeli avengers trace her to a Brussels houseboat where each fires a shot into her as she vainly attempts a seductive but grotesque striptease to save her life. An attempt to kill the architect of the Munich Murders is foiled when five Brits, posing as drunks, interfere. Avner's men are now aware they are being followed and watched. Who do the five Brits work for, the CIA or Britain's MI-6? The hunters are now the hunted.

The foiled Assassination perplexes and demoralizes. Their Israeli handler Ephraim calls Avner home to tell him their work is splendid. Not to them it isn't. Avner doesn't want to continue. He suspects they have killed Arabs not involved in Munich and balks at giving names and addresses of contacts to Ephraim. They discover the CIA has protection deals with some of their targets. The remaining Four don't know who is after them or for what. Two more die and a demoralized Avner and Steve(Daniel Craig) split up.

Afraid now, Avner flees to his wife and baby in Brooklyn. But unknown agents follow and scare him. Avener fears for his wife and child. He attacks a bureaucrat in the Israeli Mossad office in Manhattan. He is desperate now. Ephraim meets with him and admits some of the six killed were not Black September but old Israeli scores being settled. Avner won't cooperate with Israel now. And Ephraim won't help him if Avner doesn't agree to continue.

Except for a nightmare-freighted, overdone sexual episode between Avner and his wife, the film is effectively over. Spielberg and screenwriter Tony Kushner have carved this thriller into a political morality tale. The Israelis cannot assume the higher moral ground if they are as murderous as Black September. Every act of revenge sews the seeds of more violence and death. What is the point of that, ask the Authors? An Arab character argues with Avner that the Jews in Israel are outnumbered by the Arab populations that are all around them and growing in numbers much faster than the Israelis. The Authors are saying the Israelis will never win, that time is on the side of the Arabs. Israel will not win and will not survive.

I agree with them. The American War in Iraq will not succeed either. Americans and Israelis will both lose because the Arabs are fighting for their homeland. The Americans, and the Israelis who claim THEY are fighting for their homeland, cannot succeed.

Spielberg and Kushner have loaded the dice too heavily here. Avner and his four henchmen have an underlying innocence about international terrorism calculated to buttress this story and its moral. But would the Israelis really have chosen such a bunch of innocent plebes to carry out a mission as cynical, dangerous and important as this one? Its a great story but it won't play in Bagdhad, Tel Aviv or Peoria not to mention on the big screen.

Spielberg clarifies on the DVD.......2007-06-04

What I watched was the single-disc widescreen edition which contained no DVD extras but for a short intro by the director Steven Spielberg. If you haven't seen the movie before, I recommend you leave the intro for after you've finished watching the film.

In his piece, Spielberg emphasizes that the movie is neither attacking Israel nor arguing for non-response. He says that in the context of responding to terror today, we have to "try and ensure that the results we produce are the ones we really intend." I think he was successful in getting that point across in this movie.

I usually prefer knowing as little as possible about the background of a film's story, so that I can enjoy it in its "pure" form. But I think I benefited from having seen One Day in September, the documentary about what happened during the 1972 Olympics. I recommend you see it before this film. (Makes chronological sense that way...)

Spielberg acknowledges taking the indisputable facts (11 targets, decision by Golda Meir...) from George Jonas's book Vengeance, published in 1984 and recently re-issued. The details are of course unknowable and it's those gaps in knowledge that made possible the effective dramatization of the material.

Well done, but has flaws........2007-05-30

I was very curious to see this chapter of history. The story of the 11 Israeli athletes getting killed by Palestinian terrorists and the story that followed. I feel the actors chosen to play the characters couldn't have been better and the movie itself was incredible. However I feel the message that was sent to the movie going public was the incorrect one. (Caution: when I say incorrect I don't mean untrue)

Right now we are living in a very controversial time where the situation in the Middle East is a very sensitive subject. I am one who wants to see peace, but with the violence escalating every day we are far from reaching that goal. What people need to understand is that only one side wants peace and unfortunately `Munich' did not elaborate on that enough. The Israeli task force is depicted to be just as uncaring as the Palestinian extremist groups in this movie. (Never do they show actual Palastinans that truly want peace). In the beginning the message is to kill the plotters of the Munich murders and in the end the Israelis are leaving bodies uncovered in shame and the main character gives up his love for his homeland. The scene where Eric Bana's character sees himself fighting along side the terrorists is an absolute disgrace. The pieces of the movie that should have been elaborated more were the people they were killing. These were Palestinian officials high in power living far away from the Palestinian hostage camps in lavish mansions and accepting money from all different governments just to keep the violence going. Those are actual living breathing people in the P.L.O. that are still alive today. The should have made it more clear that the mission was to kill the terrorists and not to hurt the innocent Palestinians like the women and children as well as Palestinian men that had nothing to do with assassinating Jewish people.

Is this movie good...yes it is a brilliant film worthy of its credit. Will is be nominated for awards...absolutely. I don't think that Spielberg displayed anything untrue in this movie. He did however show more sympathy towards the wrong side. I believe his message was to say he wants peace and the only way to show that was that both sides shedding blood constantly would only make it worse and there never will be peace. I feel there is nothing wrong with showing there are two sides fighting and only one side wants peace. If the world can understand that there are certain people (not a nation) that don't then the true evils in this world will be wiped out and there finally will be peace.

Speilberg made the movie he set out to make when he chose 'Vengeance'.......2007-05-27

Steven Spielberg took a lot of flack for "Munich," which he admits is neither pro-Israeli nor pro-Palestinian. From Spielberg, I suppose many expected - or wanted - something more ardently Zionist. But Spielberg cast the die when he decided on George Jonas' Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team as his source material. Vengeance's point of view - and its tortuous history - is predicated on the moral ambivalence of 'Avner,' the pseudonym of the team leader, as played on-screen here by an excellent Eric Bana. I read "Vengeance" a couple of months prior to seeing the film, and my feeling is that Spielberg accurately captured Avner's feelings as well as his metamorphosis. The one thing that got left out was Avner's complex relationship with his Dad, who - in the book - essentially foretells Avner's denouement at the outset.

Jonas' book is controversial. There are ongoing disputes over its inherent accuracy to the point where people doubt the essence of the story or whether an 'Avner' actually existed. In the most recent release - coinciding with the film - Richard Ben Cramer writes a nice new introduction with a pithy comment that the debate has evolved to the point where the essence of the argument is people now saying "Hey, my part in the movie wasn't big enough."

There are some nice surprises in the film including a pre-Bond breakout appearance by Daniel Craig as part of Avner's team, as well as appearances by first-rate Israeli Arab actors Makram Khoury and Hiam Abbass. It goes without saying that their roles here are all too brief (it belabors the point to mention why). I suggest you see The Syrian Bride to see these two talented professionals in top form. There's also the inclusion of a way-inside joke of encountering future Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak - dressed in very unconvincing drag - prior to a raid in Lebanon.

Hindsight provides 20-20 vision.......2007-05-23

Munich is a rather interesting film based on the book "Vengeance: The True Story of an Israeli Counter-Terrorist Team," which was written by George Jonas. The author is a Hungarian born, Canadian writer.

Out of 14 books he has written, Vengeance is the story of an Israeli operation to assassinate the terrorists responsible for the massacre that took place during the 1972 Olympic games.

Steven Spielberg directs the film and the DVD provides a rare interview in which Mr. Spielberg discusses that his movie is not anti-Israel and or pro-Palestinian. This got me curious... and as I researched the background, the interview is intended to dispel the protests of the author, who complained that Munich was a distorted interpretation of his original work.

In essence, Jonas said that scriptwriter Tony Kushner, a Jew who has referred to the formation of Israel as a mistake, failed to make a moral distinction between terrorism and legitimate military action.

Critics of the book said that Jonas's source for the book; New York security consultant Jubal Aviv had fabricated the story. Reading all these details got us rather curious about the film, which we obtained and finally watched.

The production is a thrilling recount of details that were unknown to us. The revenge plot puts forward the fact that when we set out to pay back for sins of the past, innocent people sometimes pay the price. The movie therefore, delves into complex issues of guilt, violence, murder, love, family... honor, and the defense of the right of the people of Israel to have a place they can call home.

The reliving of the events that lead and transpired during the kidnapping and murder of the athletes is... horrifying to say the least. Golda Meir is represented in this movie and she has a monologue where she weighs the actions and consequences of what they are about to do that is simply priceless soul-searching view of what any leader must go through as they guide a people or a nation towards survival.

The technology used to eliminate those responsible is interesting, the methods are at times careless and dangerous, the people that reveal the whereabouts of those to be killed are interesting, but mercenary and it is with great horror that we realize they provide information to both sides... at a high price, of course, gaining great wealth from all the violence that ensues.

From beginning to end, we found ourselves riveted on the screen, learning a lot and feeling that hindsight provides 20-20 vision on rather complex issues that while we are living them... leaves us all blind due to lack of total awareness of the powers at play. Don't miss it!

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