Munich (2005)

Country: USA
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Genre: Political Drama
Rating: 6.8/10

What can one expect when one of the most influential Jews in Hollywood Makes a movie on a historic incident like the Munich Olympics masaccre? The answer is simple. A good one, more importantly an unbiased one.

Spielberg, in his latest movie gives an insight into what followed after the 1972 Black September Massacre (Adapted to screen from the book - Venegeance by George Jonas), where Palestinian terrorists broke into the olympic dorm taking eleven israeli atheletes hostage. The infamous standoff ended in all hostages being killed.

Munich, tells the story of Avner (Erica Bana - the incredible Hulk, Black Hawk Down), an Israeli intelligence officer who is sent to Europe to lead a team on an undercover operation which will hunt down people involved in the terrorist attacks leading to deaths of the Israeli atheletes. As the team follows leads from sources , the members Carl (Ciaran Hinds - The cook, the thief his wife and her lover, and Veronica Guerin), and Robert (Mathieu Kassovtiz - Amelie) , and later Avner realize that "an eye for an eye" response is not the solution, and that his (Avner) own family may be in danger.

I only became aware of this incident a few days before the movie got publicized. So I cannot really comment on the politics of this unfortunate incident. But what I can comment on is the movie. And this movie so to speak is more or less engaging like Spielberg's previous works such as Saving Private Ryan, and Empire of the Sun, with its realistic portrayal 0f violence. The memorable scences in the movie are the scenes involving the hits carried out by Avner and his team, they have a sense of rush. Credit should go to Tony Cushner and Eric roth for their thoughtful and at times gripping screenplay. Ace Cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, has always been a class apart when it came to setting up cameras and composing shots (and I thought he aptly displayed his superiority in SPR, and Minority Report). His work is surely worth an oscar nomination.

This is a director's movie. In other words, there are no standout peroformances by the actors, although the casting directors have done good job of gathering the right ensemble. But worth mentioning are notable performances by Geoffrey Rush (Shakespear in Love, Pirates of the Carribean) as Ephraim, and Ayelet Zorer - Avner's wife in the movie. But will it win an Oscar for best picture or director? well...... with strong competetion from movies like Ang lee's Brokeback Mountain, Bennet Miller's Capote, Meirelles's The Constant Gardener, clooney's Good Night and Good Luck, I have my doubts.

On a final note, whether or not it wins an oscar, Munich is still a thoughtful movie which gives us an oppurtunity to look back in time and realize the consequence(s) of violence.

Prasad