Munich English Movie
'Munich' based on the book 'Vengeance' by George Jonas is a political thriller directed by Steven Spielberg. The film opens with the kidnap of the Israeli athletes from the Olympic village in Munich by the members of 'Black September' a Palestinian group. The year is 1972. The rescue attempt to free the athletes goes awry and they are killed by the Palestinians.
The scene next shifts to Israel where Golda Meir, the Prime Minister chairs a meeting. She sanctions the assassination of 11 Palestinians suspected of the Munich attack. She justifies herself with the statement, 'Every civilization finds it necessary to negotiate and compromises with its own values. Forget peace now. We have to show them we're strong."
She handpicks Avner Kauffman (Eric Bana) an officer of Mossad, the Israeli secret service agency to carry out the work. He is given a team of four undercover agents to assist him. They are Steve (Daniel Craig) a South African, Carl (Ciaran Hinds) a pipe smoking Israeli, Hans (Hanns Zischler) a German antiques dealer and Robert (Mathieu Kassovitz), a Belgian toy maker.
Avners who is married with a pregnant wife leaves his family and undertakes the assignment. The team's first target is a Palestinian writer. He is followed and shot at point blank. The team next moves to Paris for the second target. Target two is assassinated and the team follows their remaining targets with the help of a source Louis (Mathieu Amalric), a paid informer. From Paris to Beirut and parts of Europe they move on tracking their targets until nine are killed.
Slowly over a period of time, self-doubts about the morality of the act creep in, especially for Robert who quits the team. Carl and Hans are killed and Avner suffers from delusions of being followed by someone. Unable to sleep he is plagued by doubts of having compromised his humanity for a cause and his country.
He returns to his wife and his daughter. Although his work is appreciated, he is unceremoniously dumped by the government. Golda Meir doesn't find time to meet him nor are there medals. He is not a war hero either.
Yet the fear that his family may have become a target for someone else constantly worries him. Despite his mother’s saying that she was proud of her son and his work, he is unable to absolve himself from the guilt of having killed nine people. He questions the Israeli officer, the go-between him and the government whether a policy of bloody reprisal and counter reprisal is the best way to tackle terrorists.
He asks how different was he from a terrorist? And when he killed one terrorist another took his place. 'Munich' asks these questions and more.
The film has beautiful moments, like the time Avner breaks down as he listens to his baby daughter's gibberish talk. The human side of him is exposed. In this edge of the seat thriller some moments stand out. On one occasion as Avner and his team wait for their target to answer a call on his telephone which has been packed with explosives, his little daughter answers the call. These moments keep the viewer hooked onto the story.
Excellently told, 'Munich' in the garb of a suspense story highlights a political reality. Only Steven Spielberg could have narrated such a story. And Eric Bana as Avner fits the role perfectly.
