Film Review: Munich (2005)

Films made less than generation ago are appearing increasingly incomprehensible and alien to contemporary audiences. This shift is due, in part, to the shortened attention spans and rapidly shifting political winds that have become the norm. Among the many examples of this phenomenon is Steven Spielberg’s 2005 political thriller Munich, a film that, despite its best efforts, struggles to resonate with younger viewers.

Munich is based on George Jonas's 1984 best-selling book Vengeance, itself based on the allegedly true story told by Mossad operative later identified as Yuval Aviv. In the film, this protagonist is renamed as Avner Kaufman (played by Eric Bana), an Israeli intelligence officer tasked with a mission of vengeance following the tragic events of September 1972. A group of Palestinian militants from the Black September Organisation attacked the Olympic village in Munich, kidnapping 11 Israeli athletes and ultimately ending in a botched rescue operation that resulted in the deaths of all hostages. In response to this atrocity, Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir (played by Lynn Cohen) authorises a covert assassination campaign targeting Palestinian leaders and activists directly or indirectly responsible for the massacre. Avner Kaufman is selected by Mossad to lead an elite team of assassins consisting of South African driver Steve (played by Daniel Craig), Belgian explosive experts Robert (played by Matthieu Kassovitz), Danish counterfeiter Hans (played by Hans Zisschler), as well as "cleaner" Carl (played by .Ciarán Hinds). Their mission is to track down and eliminate their targets living in various cities across Europe. Initially, the operation proceeds smoothly, but Avner soon finds himself having to make difficult moral decisions and his own team becomes a target. He gradually begins to question whether the killings will only perpetuate a cycle of retribution and violence.

Jonas’ book had already been adapted into a television miniseries in 1986 titled Sword of Gideon, starring Steven Bauer. However, Spielberg's project was much more ambitious, featuring notable names both behind and in front of the camera, as well as being unburdened by content limitations involving violence, nudity, and sex.

The impetus to make Munich was mainly political, driven by Hollywood’s disdain for President George W. Bush and his policy, including the war in Iraq. This conflict, which brought a steady stream of American body bags from a distant Asian country, increasingly looked like a tragic repeat of Vietnam War traumas. Instead of directly criticizing Bush, as some filmmakers would do in subsequent years, Spielberg chose to use historical allegory, drawing on another conflict that had turned into a decades-long quagmire for all parties involved.

For the audience at the time, historical parallels were unmistakable. The Munich Massacre stood for 9/11, Golda Meir stood for George W. Bush, and Mossad's campaign against Palestinians stood for the Global War on Terror with all its bloodshed and controversies. Spielberg, even more explicitly than in the 1986 miniseries, questioned whether "fighting fire with fire" was justified and whether attempts to stamp out terrorism with more (this time state-sanctioned) terror would only backfire, unlike the more responsible and "dovish" policy advocated by Bush's opponents in mid 2000s. These parallels are underlined in the final scenes that take place in New York City and feature the newly built World Trade Center as a powerful reminder of history repeating itself.

However, this message is muddled by a poor script from Tony Kushner, who somehow saw it as an opportunity to promote what some would like to see as a gay agenda. Munich becomes more explicit in this regard than Brokeback Mountain, with subtle hints of homoerotic overtones in the relationships between Avner and his men. Many men in the film appear nude or semi-nude, and in one scene, Kushner and Spielberg go even further. When Avner and his team, posing as European left-wing militants, are forced to share accommodation with Palestinian militants, the situation is portrayed as nearly idyllic, with both factions temporarily disregarding their differences and actually enjoying each other's company, accompanied by the sound of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” in the background.

The treatment of women in the film is quite another matter. They are mostly portrayed negatively, either as catalysts for conflict and bloodshed or as objects of desire that lead to tragic consequences. Golda Meir is depicted as a sociopathic warmonger who sets the killing machine in motion, while female assassin (played by Marie-Josée Croze) is presented as temptation that ultimately lead to the downfall of one of the team members. He is avenged by his comrades by having the assassin killed in most humiliating way possible, in a way to make her female charms look unquestionable ineffective to survivors, now taught valuable lesson about having only male-only relationships. Even Avner's wife (played by Ayelet Zuhrer), arguably the only positive female character in the film, is portrayed as a source of trauma for the protagonist in the sex scene near the end.

The message of the film is further muddled by Spielberg’s attempt to add his trademark celebration of family values. In this case, it takes the form of Papa (played by Michel Lonsdale), the mysterious leader of a French private intelligence network that helps Avner and his team. Avner meets Papa at his estate, surrounded by his family members enjoying a sense of bliss that seems completely elusive to the Israelis focused on their mission.

Spielberg directed Munich in a solid manner, but problems with the script are such that it would be incomprehensible to casual viewers who aren't at least somewhat familiar with 1970s history or the complexities of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Furthermore, the film's main theme – the exploration of whether it is justified to answer violence with more violence – seems utterly at odds with present-day news from the Middle East, where various sides seem to give positive answer to this question with genocidal glee.

Munich is thought-provoking film, but deeply flawed film. Despite its ambitious scope and notable talent, the film ultimately fails to deliver a cohesive message or engaging narrative for modern viewers.

RATING: 4/10 (+)

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