And the band plays on

Review by Vives Anunciacion

Munich
Directed by Steven Spielberg
Written by Tony Kushner, Eric Roth
Based on the book “Vengeance” by George Jonas
Starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Mathieu Kassovitz
R13/164 minutes
Dreamworks/ Universal Pictures
Opens February 8

Thirty years ago the world watched as the “Olympics of Peace and Joy” became the “Massacre in Munich.” Munich is a gripping action thriller that provokes a host of questions but shies away from any valid answer. Serious stuff from Steven Spielberg.

In the early morning of September 5, 1972 eight men dressed in tracksuits sneaked into the dorm compound of Olympic Village at Munich, Germany, killing two Israeli delegates and taking nine hostages. The group, belonging to the Palestinian Black September demanded the release of 234 Palestinians and non-Arabs jailed in Israel as well as the release of two German Red Army terrorists. After 21 hours of failed negotiations and a botched rescue attempt, the drama ended in a bloodbath at Fürstenfeldbruck Airport that killed all Israeli hostages and five of the 8 kidnappers, seen live on international television.

The “official” Israeli response four days later was the bombing Palestinian training camps in Syria and Lebanon. In truth, Israel had secret plans for retaliation. Prime Minister Golda Meir (Lynn Cohen) and the Israeli cabinet “Committee X” devised “Operation Wrath of God” designed to track down and assassinate the 11 Black September masterminds responsible for the Munich massacre.

In the movie, the Israeli Intelligence Agency Mossad recruits one of its young officers, Avner (Eric Bana) to lead the assassination team. He is joined in Frankfurt by four other operatives – Robert the toymaker turned bomb maker (Amelie’s Mathieu Kassovitz), Hans the document forger (Hanns Zischler), getaway car driver Steve (future James Bond Daniel Craig) and Carl the cleanup expert (Ciaran Hinds).

The humorless Mossad officer Ephraim (Geoffrey Rush) strictly relays their missions, which, over the next months, would take them from Italy to Paris, London, Athens and Beirut. Mathieu Amalric plays the Parisian contact, Louis, who provides vital information about the targets for a large sum. But as the group tracks down its targets, doubts about their missions real objectives and their safety mount increasingly.

In a rare definition of “sleeping with the enemy”, Avner and his group find themselves sharing a safehouse with a Palestinian covert group like theirs. Mistaking Avner’s group as European spies, the Arab group openly shares the reasons for their struggles. This encounter shakes Avner’s convictions, as he realizes their actions are no different from the Arabs’. In the end, only five of the 11 targets are taken down, but the missions are deemed successful. Avner, unsure of his own security in the land for which he risked his life, exiles in New York with his wife (Ayelet Zurer) and his daughter.

Munich is probably Spielberg’s most thematically complex movie, and maybe his most daring. The theme that grays the line between terrorism and counter-terrorism is repeated with each member of the assassin group, especially when they begin to question their purpose when the safety of innocent lives are risked. It doesn’t end when the targets are eliminated, since new ones are hired to replace them. At what price really is revenge? The retaliator receives retaliation, and so on, violence begets violence. But at nearly 3 hours, this repetitive theme is indulgent, if not excessive.

The color palettes and patterns of the 70’s are beautifully recreated in Janusz Kaminski’s photography and in Rick Carter’s design, the edit by Michael Kahn is inspired to excite. Music is understated, uncharacteristically John Williams.

While Munich vividly dramatizes the human costs of Israel’s hardline policy against terrorism, it is only a subtle reminder of a world that has conflicted righteousness with retribution. “Forget peace,” Meir reminds her cabinet. Munich repeatedly asks whether the end truly justifies the means, but it also does not pretend to have the answers to its own questions.

Munich stands as a thoroughly crafted thriller, but fails to debate the realities of justice in the age of terror. Spielberg places his last arguments for peace in the final frame of the movie – as Avner and Ephraim go separate ways in1973, the doomed twin towers of the World Trade Center stand in the hazy background. “There is no peace at the end of this.” Avner declares, and the movie’s polemics also end there. The bloodbath continues to rain.