Munich (2005) * * 1/2

 

Directed by:  Steven Spielberg

Starring:  Eric Bana, Geoffrey Rush, Ciaran Hinds, Daniel Craig, Lynn Cohen, Ayelet Zurer, Mathieu Almaric, Michael Lonsdale, Hanns Zischler

Munich's relevance is the same in 1972, when the PLO murdered eleven Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics, 2005 when the movie was released, and of course today when the war between Israel and Hamas rages on with no end in sight.  You could say that about the entire Israel/Palestine mess since its inception.  

Munich attempts to focus on the 1972 Olympics and the aftermath when Mossad assigned agents (off the record) to track down and kill those responsible for the deaths of the athletes.  Why does the Israeli government disavow the knowledge of the operation?  It's not clear.  You would think Israel would want the world to know publicly there would be retribution for killing its citizens.  However, Steven Spielberg has made a sluggish movie which should be crackling with intensity, but rarely does.  

Avner (Bana) is a former bodyguard to Golda Meir recruited to lead the missions to kill the terrorists.  With help from his crew, he carries out missions in which the killers are disposed of by shootings, bombings, stabbings, you name it.  Avner soon begins to question the viability of the operation.  One PLO member is killed, another more vicious person takes his place.  When Munich is over, we learn nine of the eleven members responsible for the Munich massacre were killed, but in the end it is a small victory for Israel.  Meanwhile, Bana suffers from PTSD and guilt.  He is not a killer by nature, but forced to be one on behalf of a government that does not acknowledge the operation and only communicates with him through a Swiss lockbox and a superior (Rush) who is caught in the middle. 

Only Avner is given any depth.  He is a father to a newborn who moves his family to New York to avoid having them killed.  The Israel/Palestine conflict is a cycle in which Munich is but another chapter.  Fifty-plus years later, the battle rages on.  Spielberg and writers Tony Kushner and Eric Roth understand that Israel's response to Munich did little to change anything, as did anything else before or since.  Spielberg tries to see both sides and that is noteworthy, but the movie itself despite a solid foundation is only a tepid near-miss.