Barnes & Noble

After 11 Israeli athletes were kidnapped and killed by Palestinian terrorists at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, the Israeli government secretly recruited a hit squad from its Mossad intelligence agency and mandated the death of the Black September operatives responsible for the bloodshed. This state-sponsored retribution campaign -- rumored for years but only recently detailed in such books as George Jonas’s Vengeance -- forms the basis of Steven Spielberg’s masterful Munich, a grimly compelling fact-based drama that’s something of an epic thriller. Eric Bana portrays Avner, the young, newly married Mossad agent who leaves his pregnant wife to head the team -- a job he undertakes, at great personal risk, because he believes (initially, at least) that the murders of his countrymen must be avenged. The other four members of his team include: Daniel Craig as tough guy Steve; Mathieu Kassovitz as explosives specialist Robert; Hanns Zischler as forgery master Hans; and, best of all, that versatile character actor Ciaran Hinds as the meticulous organizer Carl. Adopting a much grittier visual style than usual, Spielberg films the key events of this lengthy campaign as a documentarian might, frequently employing handheld cameras and shooting with natural light whenever possible. Moreover, he bends over backward to be evenhanded, turning a gimlet eye on the Israeli government run by Golda Meir. This stance aroused considerable controversy, but Spielberg wasn’t looking to score points with Palestinians and their supporters; he was trying to make a larger point. It becomes apparent in the movie’s second half, when the revenge plot unravels and the assassins become targets themselves. Bana’s character, weary of the killing on both sides, begins to wonder if his side has lost the moral high ground. Spielberg intimates that the never-ending cycle of violence, of attack and retaliation, further exacerbates the Middle East problem and makes peace more difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Easily among the master director’s most provocative films, Munich earned five Academy Award nominations, including nods for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Score (the work of John Williams). Ed Hulse

All Movie Guide

Much as Steven Spielberg followed 1993's special-effects blockbuster Jurassic Park with a far more downbeat and personal project later the same year, Schindler's List, in 2005 after tearing up the box office with War of the Worlds the director closed out the year with a powerful and thoughtful drama about the human costs of international terrorism. The 1972 Olympics in Munich, Germany, were supposed to be a peaceful gathering of outstanding athletes from around the world, but on September 5, the games took a sinister turn when eight masked Palestinian terrorists invaded the Olympic village, killing two Israeli athletes and abducting nine others. The kidnappers demanded safe passage out of Germany in addition to the release of Arab prisoners in Israeli and German prisons, but when they arrived at the Munich airport they were met by German police and military forces, and in the melee that followed, all nine hostages were killed. In the wake of the killings, the Israeli government gave Mossad, the nation's intelligence agency, a special assignment -- to track down and eliminate the Palestinians responsible for the death of the Israeli athletes. A young and idealistic Mossad agent (Eric Bana) is assigned to the four-man unit created to wipe out the Olympic terrorists, but while he believes in serving his country, as their bloody work goes on he begins to buckle under the weight of his work and wonders if he can morally justify his nation's acts of revenge. Munich also stars Geoffrey Rush, Daniel Craig, Mathieu Kassovitz, and Ciarán Hinds. Mark Deming

Product Details

• UPC: 025192182327
• Source: UNIVERSAL STUDIOS
• Region Code: 1
• Presentation: Wide Screen
• Sound: Dolby AC-3 Surround Sound
• Language: Français
• Editions: Subtitled, Dubbed
• Time: 2:44:00
• Sales Rank: 13,894

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