Munich Review
by Steve Rhodes (Steve DOT Rhodes AT InternetReviews DOT com)December 30th, 2005
MUNICH
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2005 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
You'll be relieved to find out that there is no evil in the world, only imperceptibly different shades of gray. Mohamed Atta and his crew of 9-11 murderers weren't evil. They were just misunderstood and misguided. At least that is the sort of logic that follows all through MUNICH, Steven Spielberg's retelling of the aftermath of the 1972 Munich Olympics -- one of the first major terrorist attacks to shock the world.
MUNICH is a long and rambling story. Although extremely well crafted and frequently suspenseful, it is another of this year's pretentious pictures, which pretend to be profound while signifying nothing. It is great storytelling trying to brainwash us into believing that there are no terrorists in the world since we are all terrorists. (The only organization portrayed in MUNICH which comes off as pure -- as in purely evil -- isn't the Black September terrorists who slaughtered the innocents, but our own CIA.)
Unlike SYRIANA, another of this year's political polemics, at least MUNICH follows an understandable narrative. Since the story is labeled only as "Inspired by true events," we can reasonably assume that much of it is fictional. Avner (Eric Bana from THE HULK) leads a group of Israeli assassins who hunt down and kill eleven of the main people behind the murder of the Israeli athletes.
Avner's team so infuriates the terrorists that they start massacring hundreds of innocent men, women and children around the world. Spielberg tosses out this fact rather matter-of-factly while spending most of the time showing what nice guys the terrorist masterminds really are. One is a poet, another is a loving father, etc. Meanwhile Avner slowly goes mad with guilt and paranoia.
The worst moment in the film occurs when we see a little girl in a room where a bomb is about to be placed. Since Avner's team works hard to avoid collateral damage, we know there will be a cheap shot in which the girl will accidentally be blown to bits. But the cheap shot gets cheaper still when Spielberg pulls the rug out from under us at the last moment. Just kidding, he says with a sadistic wink.
Reportedly, Spielberg thinks the solution to the world's problems comes not from getting tough with terrorists, but simply by talking to them for as long as it takes. It is hard to believe that this dangerously naive film comes from someone who made SHINDLER'S LIST.
MUNICH runs a long 2:42. It is rated R for "strong graphic violence, some sexual content, nudity and language" and would be acceptable for most teenagers.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC theaters and the Century theaters.
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